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I drove to Atlanta, GA, with my friend Jason to see Steve Vai as a birthday present to myself. It was an amazing show. There was a long line waiting to get in when we got there. I ‘just knew’ that we were going to somehow be stuck in the back of this little club. Much to my surprise, we were very close. We were about twenty feet from the stage. I was completely awestruck by Mr. Vai the entire time.

I was hoping “I Know You’re Here” would be thrown in somewhere. Steve played several songs from his new album Real Illusions: Reflections. If you are a Vai fan and you haven’t picked this up yet, you need to go get it. It is by far his best, most diverse work to date.

He inserted the live solo usually played during “Bad Horsie” into “Midway Creatures” and the live solo (Tony MacAlpine duel) usually played during “Erotic Nightmares” into “Answers”. Very cool indeed!

Eric Sarindas opened the show with an hour-long set. I really enjoyed his set. I’ve never heard Eric before, but I bought his album the following Monday at a local record shop.

Set list:

1. Glorious
2. The Audience Is Listening
3. K’m-Pee-Du-Wee
4. Building The Church
5. The Crying Machine
6. Dave Weiner Solo
7. Whispering A Prayer
8. The Reaper
9. Acoustic Medley
10. Drum Solo
11. Dying For Your Love
12. Answers
13. Billy Sheehan Song
14. Midway Creatures
15. I’m The Hell Outta Here
16. Lotus Feet

Encore:

1. Liberty
2. My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama (with Eric Sardinas)
3. For The Love Of God

This was definitely one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Vai is very much a showman as much as he is an amazing guitar slinger. I went to the show expecting to be blown away, and Vai didn’t let me down. Try to catch him if you can.