Generation Axe
Providence Performing Arts Center
Providence, RI
May 8, 2016

Generation Axe

Generation Axe

Spearheaded by guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, Generation Axe brought together five legendary guitar players for one night of music. In addition to Vai, the show saw 80’s shredder Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Black Label Society frontman and former Ozzy guitar player Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettancourt, guitar player for Extreme, and the youngest player, Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders.

As the lights dimmed, the instantly recognizable keyboard riff from the intro of Boston’s “Foreplay” began, and all five guitar players made their way to the stage. What is normally just a two minute intro to the song “Long Time” was extended significantly as the five guitar players took turns taking solos. Making a great song even more entertaining was the perfect start to the show. As they reached the end, Vai introduced the crowd to Tosin Abasi, and the rest of the players left the stage.


Tosin Abasi

Tosin Abasi

Tosin Abasi

Tosin Abasi is certainly has less of a household name than the other players. Most people here tonight didn’t know who he was. I had been turned onto his band, Animals as Leaders, a few years ago, but have never listened to them more than a few times. Tosin definitely impressed people tonight, and any time I went by the merchandise table, I heard people looking for an album with him on it.

Something that sets Tosin apart from the rest of the players is that he plays an eight string guitar, which makes for some unique tones. Some of his solos had aspects of them that sounded like bass solos, which was really cool!

After he played three of his songs, he introduced Nuno Bettancourt, who joined him for one more Animals as Leaders song, before leaving the stage to give Nuno a turn.


Nuno Bettancourt

Nuno Bettancourt

Nuno Bettancourt

While Tosin’s set was very much prog-metal, once Nuno started his set, we were into the territory of straight up rock n’ roll. Going into this show, I wasn’t sure if anybody would sing tonight. Nuno started out with Extreme’s “Get the Funk Out,” singing lead vocals as he played. I found that having a couple of songs with catchy vocals mixed into his set made a nice blend with all the shredding that had happened so far tonight.

Nuno sat down with an acoustic guitar, noodled around for a little bit, then started playing the chords to “More than Words.” The crowd went wild, but Nuno stopped and said “Nahhh, not tonight!,” before playing Midnight Express.

In preparing for the tour, Nuno said he had been wondering what to play, and ended up googling himself. He found a video of a 13 year old playing a medley of what he considered the best of Nuno’s material, and so he decided to play a riff/solo medley of Extreme songs.

After playing a few of his songs, he introduced Zakk Wylde to the stage, and they played together on “Sideways,” a song that Citizen Cope wrote and performed with Santana.


Zakk Wylde

Zakk Wylde

Zakk Wylde

I won’t deny that Zakk is who I was most looking forward to seeing tonight, having seen him play with Black Label Society and Ozzy probably somewhere around 10 times. It’s possible I’m biased, but I feel Zakk’s was the most entertaining of the solo sets. Like Nuno, he sang on the songs he played, but he didn’t actually play any of his songs. His set consisted of Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.”, Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing,” and “Whipping Post” by The Allman Brothers Band. Of course he stretched these three songs into nearly 40 minutes once all his guitar solos were added, but in comparison to the sets that were just guitar solos, I thought it was great, because they were songs we all knew and could sing along to parts of.

During “Little Wing,” Zakk made his way into one of the aisles of the crowd and soloed there for a few minutes, before going back up front and down another aisle to do the same thing. The crowd went crazy for Zakk, and it seemed to me he brought an energy and performance level that had been missing from the show up to that point.

As Zakk’s set ended, he was the only artist not to have the next guitar player up to jam; his set came to a hard end before Yngwie hit the stage.


Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Yngwie J. Malmsteen

Yngwie J. Malmsteen

From the second Yngwie hit the stage, the show changed dramatically, and I felt like we’d been brought back to the 80’s. The more modern lighting used during the rest of the show changed to a wash of red and orange lights, and the stage filled with fog, and of course Yngwie still rocks the hair and leather pants from the 80’s.

There’s no doubt Yngwie is a great player. Despite his talent, I found his set to be the least entertaining of the night. To me, all of his songs seemed to run together into one big guitar solo. At times he seemed to be playing with a backing track rather than the live band that accompanied the rest of the night, which was disappointing as well. A fan extremely familiar with his material may have enjoyed it more than I did.

After playing a few of his songs, Yngwie played “The Star Spangled Banner,” after which Steve Vai came out and joined him to play “Black Star.”


Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Steve Vai

Once Yngwie left the stage, the stage lights brightened up, and Steve Vai spent some time talking about the show, and how great the tour has been. He played three of his songs, talking to the crowd a little bit in between each one.

Before his fourth song, Vai discussed how guitar solos became less popular in the 90’s, but he knew somewhere out there were kids who still loved it. He then invited Tosin back up to join him on “Building the Church.” Tosin really only played rhythm on the track, but it was still a nice gesture to show respect for the new generation of players.


Generation Axe

Generation Axe

Generation Axe


Once Vai finished his set, with Tosin still on stage with him, he made note of the fact that they had two Generation Axe players on stage, why not bring a couple more up, and re-introduced both Nuno and Zakk. The four of them played a cover of “Frankenstein” by Edgar Winter Group. Of course, extra solos were added to the song, giving all four of them multiple chances to shine. I can’t think of a song better suited for such a great group of musicians than one of the greatest instrumental classic rock hits.

“Now we’ve got four Generation Axe players, but what do you say we get one more?” says Vai before bringing Yngwie back on stage to join the group. The full battalion fires into the Deep Purple classic “Highway Star.” As the song builds up to the first verse, I wondered who, if anyone would handle vocals on the song. Yngwie sang the first verse and chorus, while on the subsequent verses, Vai played the vocal melody on guitar. I hoped Zakk would sing a verse, as I think his voice would suit the song well, but Yngwie did sound great on it.

Generation Axe


Generation Axe


Of course it wouldn’t be Generation Axe without extended guitar solos. When it got to the first solo section, they each took played solos of their own. The second solo section was much more familiar to the Richie Blackmore licks of the studio, reaching a real highlight as all five of them played various parts of the climax of the solo. They brought the song to a dramatic end, and said goodnight to the crowd.

All in all, I thought the first Generation Axe show was very entertaining, though at over three and a half hours, possibly a little long for a night of guitar solos. I look forward to seeing what future lineups of the tour may have in store!


Setlist
Foreplay
Tosin Abasi
Tempting Time
Air Chrysalis
The Woven Web
Physical Education (with Nuno)
Nuno Bettancourt
Get the Funk Out
Midnight Express
Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee
Extreme Medley
Sideways (With Zakk)
Zakk Wylde
N.I.B.
Little Wing
Whipping Post
Yngwie J. Malmsteen
Spellbound
Into Valhalla
Overture
Far Beyond the Sun
The Star-Spangled Banner
Black Star (With Vai)
Steve Vai
Now We Run
Tender Surrender
Gravity Storm
Building the Church (With Tosin)
Encore
Frankenstein
Highway Star

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.