Long trek. 500-buck tickets. Rain. Famous names, but fresh contexts.
A few hundred denizens of our fair city added all that up and found
some (sum?) reason to make it to Fireflies on May 30 to watch the
Guitar Gurus play. Happy to say I was one of those, for it was some gig!
Got there (Fireflies is quite a ways out of town) just in time for
the first Guru of the night, John Anthony. The Fireflies amphitheater
was already looking pretty full, and despite the ubiquitous blue tarps
over the stage, sound console and speaker stacks, the ambience was
everything Fireflies is known for. The old Ficus religiosa that forms the stage backdrop was as entrancing as ever, dreaming quietly in the intermittent drizzle.
I’ve heard John play before (he’s even guested on an early-Rzhude acoustic album called 4/4).
On stage with him that night was Fayaz Khan on Sarangi, and Darbuka
Shiva on percussion; everything else was coming from some sort of
computer/groovebox/sampler/gizmo. It’s always great to watch John play,
his Carnatic-twisted licks blurring with rock distraction, but somehow
the mechanical rhythms and loops over which he played diluted things a
bit for me. He also seemed to be having some small trouble with his
tone, which tended towards muddy on the faster passages. The
compositions were quite fun though, and I liked the gentle acoustic
pieces best.
Ran up to get some local chow before settling down again to watch
Amit Heri and Sanjay Divecha. Had heard so much about the latter, and
was really looking forward to this. Two guys, two Godin nylon-strings
(which brand caused a pal some confusion – “hey look, they’re playing
Go… Go… Goblin guitars!”) and some great chops – couldn’t be better. Starting with a truly elegant version of Eleanor Rigby,
the duo proceeded to defy the damp (it had begun to pour) and pick
their way through each other’s tunes with a real sense of joy. That’s
the only word I can use. I’ve seldom seen Amit happier on stage, as
each egged the other on to greater heights. It was, for the most part,
a wonderfully restrained, thoughtful set. Another Beatle track showed
up delightfully mangled - Get Back. Sanjay is a really
expressive, lyrical player, and I’m glad I finally got to see him play.
Amit showed off some his famous non-linear licks, but I somehow
preferred his more restrained playing that night.
Up next was the first ‘band’ of the night, with axeman Derek Julien
at the helm. Playing an unabashedly 80s Carvin, Derek had Dwight
Pattison on bass and I’m sorry I didn’t catch the names of anyone else
in the band. Nice tone, decent instrumentals, but it was that time of
the night when the sandman gets busy, and I was having some trouble
staying fully alert. Decided to walk about a bit, and bumped into
various friends and bookends.
Got back in just as Vikramjit ‘Tuki’ Bannerjee was getting on; with
Jeff Rikh (Jeff Rocks! Er, Jeff Rikhs!) on drums and others from the
Krosswindz line-up, I figured this would be the real band of
the night and was not mistaken. From the first note, you could tell
this was a bunch that had been playing together for donkey’s years, and
that rhythm section was just magic. Tuki – well, he had the best tone
of the night, a singing, stinging, growling, jangling, mangling Strat
sound that had me riveted. He’s a bold bold player, always out front,
effortless bashing away, and with a charmingly sloppy stage act to
boot. ‘Tuki’ is just such an apt name, I thought… he’d be in the midst
of a blazing solo, step over his beloved GT-5 – and into a spot not
covered by stage lighting (resulting in a mild scatter of strange
notes); step back, get his cable stuck under his effects and yank it
out of the guitar - twice I think – and still stay completely sanguine!
His version of Jeff Beck’s Cause We Ended as Lovers was stellar. Overall, his performance was, well, ‘incendiary’ (remember Almost Famous?).
Decided to split (it was 3 am) before the big jam at the end. A great night. Should do it again sometime…