I found out about this show late and ended up on the floor. I can’t do standing anymore but decided to tough it out since I hadn’t seen him before. This ticket was $47, which is a nice break from some of the other concerts I’ve been to lately.

Entering the venue, I was greeted with an error. After moving around a bit, it finally worked. Just give us a paper ticket, man. It’s much easier to get in that way. But I know, you’d rather lock us in to your scummy platform and control the second-hand market, too, while claiming it’s to protect us from losing our tickets. I’ve never lost a ticket in my life. In fact, I still have all my old ticket stubs. Watching that paper and ink fade is oddly gratifying.

The set was over 2hrs but with multiple covers throughout. Personally, I could do without them as Buckethead’s catalog is massive. There were no nunchakus and there was also no merch, which I was pretty bummed about.

It looks like Buckethead uses an EVH 5150III amp. It sounded real good and I always appreciate when a real amp is used over a digital amp modeler. While they are convenient, I can’t help but notice a difference. I find they always sound thin and lacking that punch you get with a tube amp. The bigger the act, the more disappointed I get when I hear that digital guitar sound because I know they could do it if they wanted to. A good demonstration of that irreplaceable tube-feel is when the distortion kicks in on Soothsayer.

Flickr gallery is here.

Pikes

I haven’t been following Buckethead much in recent years and so with this show coming up, I discovered his Pike series. They’re short albums around 30mins or so and as of this post, there’s over 600 of them. If you’re starting from #1 like I am, it’s going to keep you busy for a while. Here’s a list of some of my favorites so far (without tracking params):

Pike 7 - The Shores Of Molokai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_KIJ0stV7Y

Pike 30 - Mannequin Cemetery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZtJ47DDqJw

Pike 35 - Thank You Ohlinger’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iCUetdcYEg

Pike 36 - The Pit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VT4cWoj3Rk

Pike 39 - Twisterlend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1JSoNu3s10

Pike 44 - You Can’t Triple Stamp A Double Stamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6COjCa3f8

Pike 47 - Roller Coaster Track Repair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlwzMybIsU

Pike 111 - Night Of The Snowmole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5aCZgbR3HE

Pike 157 - Upside Down Skyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-_ngM1VXsg

Pike 158 - Twisted Branches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY75MoIoiXw

Pike 159 - Half Circle Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFYRz04kRu8

Pike 160 - Land Of Miniatures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFnTTLzXMxY

Pike 164 - Ghoul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ySBsoXFbg

Pike 171 - A Ghost Took My Homework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc54PIch_sM

Pike 211 - Screen Door: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxWQktHlWOA

Support Buckethead by purchasing his music from Bandcamp. It’s a great place to get DRM-free file downloads.¹

Bootleg

Just a little souvenir.