Bass extraordinaire Stu Hamm put together a tour, inspired by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai's G3 series of tours, with fellow bass wizards Jeff Berlin and Billy Sheehan. They stopped at Club Infinity in Williamsville on Saturday night. I had to scramble a bit because I didn't know of the show before Friday night, but everything went well. I got there pretty early and bought my ticket at the door. The room is set up with tables around the sides and back. Thankfully, the people at the front of the line were the sitting type; I was the only the second person on the floor. I had a great spot for the show, just off center against the rail.
A local band, Sweatin' Like Nixon, opened. I've known of them for years but never heard them before this show. I was impressed. Great musicianship and spontaneous, adventurous compositions. I think I may have to check them out further.
After an intermission, the three stars of the show took the stage: Berlin and Hamm with their basses, Sheehan armed only with his voice. Stu started an evening of laughs by announcing that they were starting with the encore: a rendition of the national anthem, after which Stu and Billy left the stage, replaced by the Bx3 'house band': guitarist Jude Gold and drummer John Mader, who proved themselves to be very solid and versatile musicians over the course of the evening.
Jeff Berlin, after overcoming some technical difficulties with one of his amps, played a solid set of jazz. His music isn't exactly my thing, but I enjoyed it and was very impressed by his playing.
Stu Hamm was the second one up. He covered a huge range of styles, leaning generally toward rock but incorporating funk, jazz and classical. Of the three bassists, he was the only one that played extensively without accompaniment, taking a few extended solo spots. These were his usual solos: the "Peanuts" theme, his Beethoven/Beatles cross, and his crowd-involvement slapfest (the latter two can be heard in his solo on Joe Satriani's Live in San Francisco). I really enjoyed Stu's set and plan on checking out his solo recordings.
The hometown hero, Billy Sheehan, closed the show. If Stu tore the roof off of the place, Billy leveled the walls. He pumped up the already-juiced energy level with his unique antics and by throwing in a few covers and choice cuts from his past bands: "Goldilocks" by King's X (without vocals), "Addicted To That Rush" (recorded with Talas and Mr. Big) and "Shy Boy" (recorded with Talas and David Lee Roth, recently performed with Steve Vai). I don't think there's a bass player out there quite like Sheehan. It was truly awesome to see him (as well as the others, but Billy especially) from ten feet.
The big twist came when Jude Gold left the stage and was replaced by Jeff and Stu toward the end of Billy's set. The three launched into a very impressive jam, after which Jude returned to the stage, but with a twist: he traded his six-string for Stu's backup bass. Stu pondered to the audience about what song calls for four basses. My immediate thought was Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom." Yeah, I called that right! It was a great choice to close an excellent show. No, Stu wasn't joking when he said they were starting with the encore: the house lights didn't come up, so many people (myself included) were expecting more. They pulled a fast one on the crowd, though: after a few minutes, the soundman announced that Jeff, Stu and Billy were at the merch stand for a meet-and-greet and autographs. I skipped it, though, because the combination of work in the morning, the huge line forming and my lack of anything to get signed (because I paid at the door, I didn't even have a ticket).
I took plenty of photos and some video, too, which can be found in my photos section.