Monday, October 31, 2005
Buckethead at State Theatre (Falls Church, Virginia)
Fan pencils by Julien.
Washington Post, Friday, October 28, 2005; Page C07
After waiting nearly two hours past the scheduled start time, the crowd at the State Theatre on Wednesday was treated to five songs before metal-funk guitar hero Buckethead cleared the stage and launched into a martial-arts routine set to techno music. With his trademark white mask and KFC bucket firmly on his head, the tall, gangly, mute ax-slinger swung nunchucks for a while before breaking into the robot dance, gently handing out toys and finally returning to his guitar for two speed-metal romps set to recorded music. Sigh. "Sling Blade"-like drummer Pinchface and bassist Delray Brewer rejoined Buckethead for three more tunes before the group took a painfully long 25-minute break after its choppy 50-minute set. The trio returned to crank out 70 more minutes of all-instrumental metal, but there was hardly any mayhem. The group's sound is too polished for anything to be out of place, including a set list filled with such standard Buckethead concert fare as "Nottingham Lace," "Slaw," "Night of the Slunk," "Meta-Matic," "Jordan" and "Jowls."
Before the show, power-trio performances by Cream and Jimi Hendrix were projected on the stage's screen. Big mistake. It's not that freaky Buckethead can't hold his own with Hendrix and Eric Clapton. But Pinchface and Brewer pale in comparison with the flexible rhythm sections in Cream and Hendrix's group.
Then again, Buckethead's songs don't give his bandmates much to do beyond following the virtuoso leader, which means hammering home simple drum patterns and obvious bass progressions while he finger-taps his way through scale exercises. Without a vocalist to provide melodic and rhythmic distractions, Buckethead's music sounded like backing tracks for karaoke metal. The band's tame closing medley of Hendrix's "Foxey Lady" and "Machine Gun" was the ultimate proof. --Christopher Porter
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Click here to see Buckethead's very earnest tribute to ODB. I hope all 47 of Ol' Dirty's baby mommas are doing all 'ight.
Posted by CP | Link |
