Chickenfoot survives drummer no problem
Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, August 24, 2009
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz
Heretofore, Sammy Hagar may have been considered the loose cannon of super group Chickenfoot. But after Monday's sturdy performance, the quartet must award that title to drummer Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Sure, the tall Smith kept one strong beat throughout the evening, but he also managed to do what probably few if any musicians do in Beantown - diss the Celtics and praise the Lakers. But give the guy credit for having the guts to hear the boo birds from the fans. And he also managed to clonk ace guitarist Joe Satriani with a drumstick in the back of the head with an errant toss of one of many sticks he flicked into the crowd during the night. Satriani didn't look too happy, and Smith later publicly acknowledged the faux pas, but those were about the only problems with the set by Chickenfoot.
The band, which also includes bassist Michael Anthony of Van Halen, last toured the area just three months ago playing the 600-person Middle East club as part of a warm-up tour for the summer gigs.
The sets were very similar starting with the solid lead off Avenida Revolution about the plight of immigrants and so was the quality. Chickenfoot played their entire debut disc, which meant to stretch it to 110 minutes, they had to do a lot of jamming and extending of the songs. In the hands of lesser musicians and entertainers, that would not be such a good thing, but when Satriani is anchoring the axe, no problem.
Satriani proved to be intensely creative in handling the guitar lines. He went steely at times, rocked away other times, ran his fingers down the strings for quick howls among other tricks. All the while, Satriani made it seem like no big deal.
Smith maintained a steady, meaty beat throughout, but that didn't mean he overdid it. Anthony was a bit undermiked on bass, but he joined Smith in establishing a solid rhythm section.
Hagar at 61 showed no signs of slowing down. He didn't have the most creative stage patter going - a number of the comments contained sexual references - but he certainly let out the howls and got the cords. Thankfully, his voice was mixed high, leaving no problem in hearing him above the music.
When the four forces combined, the result was a meaty musical tour de force. This wasn't a situation where the individual parts were greater than the whole. Chickenfoot rocked, but also toned it down and went softer several times, including the ballad Learning to Fall.
The regular set ended strong with the hopeful, forward looking The Futures Is The Past with Hagar taking out his electric guitar for one of the very few times this evening, and he showed he was no dilettante either.
The only old songs - the group played nothing from members' current bands - was Bad Motor Scooter from Hagar's Montrose Days going right into The Who's My Generation.
This may be a side project for a quartet with little to prove, but if the only "problems" were created by Smith, that was quite all right.
British blues band Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam opened the evening with few people probably knowing their music and left with standing ovation. Knowles was a superb guitarist, creating a lot of good licks and a voice that matched the material.. He also was amply aided by his keyboardist to create lines.
Including covers of Junior Wells ' Messin' With the Kid and Crosby Stills Nash & Young's Almost Cut My Hair, Knowles and his three backing mates made the most of their 40 minutes.
