The Aristocrats 2015 tour

[boilk]

Thanks for posting that. Very cool to see. To be honest, it's hard for me to say whether I would enjoy seeing these guys, and be amazed by their skills, or if I'd be bored to death after a couple of songs, with a chops-fest. I usually tend to prefer impressive playing within the context of an actual solid song (yes, I know, that is very open to interpretation, and incredibly subjective), than just a thread-bare composition, seemingly designed to serve superior technique.

neil

[Richard]

On the fence.

I so want to like this band because Marco and Guthrie are such great musicians and fantastic with Steven Wilson, but I went to see the show the last time around in Philadelphia and enjoyed it for about 20 minutes, but then it got tedious and I grew quite bored. One of the few times in my life I have ever walked out of a gig.

I wish they had better writing skills, but perhaps I'll give them another chance. I wish they could have delayed this some and had Guthrie and Marco stay with Wilson through his North American leg.

[jamesmanzi]

Guthrie gives a pretty lengthy fretless demo here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjEGtUXGWa0

[Sean]

With a denser backdrop GG's playing is a bit more dramatic.

[zombywoof]

I agree that they're better live than on disc.

Totally agree. I rarely, if ever, play their discs, but their live set was a blast.

[ytserush]

Totally agree. I rarely, if ever, play their discs, but their live set was a blast.

I think they are. Bought the live album the last time I saw them.

[Jay G]

Have my tickets to the Philly show. Saw them before at The North Star which is a room I hate as I am really unable to stand that long. The first tour Guthrie only played the fretless one song and only because the rep from Vigier was in the crowd and brought the guitar with him. At that time his primary guitar was a Suhr and he had just also switched to their amps. He now plays Charvel and Victory Amps which are designed by one of the original Cornford folks. Not sure if I ever shared this before but here is a picture of my son playing one of Guthrie's actual fretless Vigiers and the one he played at the first North Star show.

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx352/jgoldenbergi/10952455_10155134403315553_1692709871090561439_n_z psgsevrzqt.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Sean]

20150815_001432.jpg

Saw them last night here in Atlanta and they just slayed. Their new cd (Tres Caballeros) offers up a lot more variety than past ones so the set was the most diverse I have seen yet from them. I too found past outings with them a bit tedious but now there's some balance. Some of these tunes could have been on a Metheny, Dick Dale or Albert Lee record. Alongside their more riffy material from previous albums. They are reminding me more of the diversity that you get at say, a Mike Keneally show now. They are very much a jazz rock fusion band and the opening act The Travis Larson Band kinda made that difference all the more apparent as they work the other end of the instrumental rock spectrum - melodic guitar rock ala Satriani but sounding more like the Dregs. A pretty cool pairing.

Do try and see them if they come your way, you aren't likely to see such a a collection of talent on one stage very often. Instrumental music is a small, tough niche to be part of. Always will be so try and be there and support them if you can.