Buckethead: Chicago 5/31/08 review

bigbri

The wait for Bucket seemed to last an eternity, and the crowd was getting restless after almost a half hour after That 1 Guy finished. The dude in front of me said, 'Dude, I know he's worth the wait, but what the fuck?' During the wait, I shuffled my way closer to the stage and away from the frat boys. I ended up on the left of the stage, about directly in front of the Haunted Mansion bust on the left. In my new spot, I was just a couple people away from 226. I also scouted for tapers, and I saw two in the balcony. Colonelcack, I think, said there was a taper up front too. I didn't see him, although maybe it was Bobloblaw, who got shut down.

Finally, at 8:55 p.m., the now-familiar robotic beeps and whistles started as the surgical-mask-wearing roadie comes out on stage with his oversized remote control. A few seconds later, Bucket appears from stage left, walking like a robot. The show was about to begin.

He opened with Slunk, and the beginning actually sounded a bit like Jordan, so, of course, the crowd goes crazy because most of them have probably only heard Jordan. He was right on. It was the shit.

Of the three shows I've seen in Chicago, this was the most intense. It was packed on the floor, there was some pushing and shoving, and at one point, some dude came barreling through the audience on the floor, knocking people around along the way, and right to the front of the stage in front of Bucket. I had snuck up beside 226 at this point, and I gave the dude, who was drunk or high, a huge shove because I got jostled, which I don't like. Anyway, he was so close to Bucket, reaching out, jumping up and down, screaming, I was afraid he was gonna rush Bucket. The roadies put themselves in position to tackle the guy, but they didn't have to. Big B was so cool, he just kept playing, looking right down at the guy.

The version of Soothsayer was blistering. It seemed like it was never gonna end'”brilliant. It's amazing how Bucket can go through these long songs and jams, sweat dripping off his mask and rolling down his hair, but he never misses a note. In fact, I only detected one missed note the whole night. Early in the set.

Jordan, of course, got the crowd fired up. Someone crowd surfed over me, and actually ended up on my head, stopped at one point, before I propelled them on.

It was cool to hear We Can Rebuild Him. It was so heavy and intense, and then, he followed it with a surprise. The familiar bass and beat of Scraps pumped out of the amps after the ferocious We Can Rebuild Him. Buckethead226 and I just looked at each other and gave that knowing smile that we were seeing something special right here. It was probably the highlight of the show for me. I've always loved it, and this was a nice, nice version. True to the original but with some new touches. Another surprise was I Love My Parents during the That 1 Guy jam. It was a really nice moment. I thought it was perfect.

Welcome to Bucketheadland also was pretty stout. It wasn't the longer version I've heard about in some reviews, but still cool. He skipped Jumpman, which was on the set list and ended with Giant Robot, complete with Bucket flying his doll around the stage.

Meta-Matic seemed supergroovy and funky. It just made me want to bop all over the place. I don't remember it that way the last couple times I saw him.

When Bucket came out with the nunchuks while he was playing, when he threw the first one behind him, it hit the screen he had set up for the DVD images.

I had fun watching the toy robot Atomic Man he had set up on the amp to his left. During the course of the night, it moved around the top of the amp from the vibrations of the music, eventually falling off before a roadie came out and picked it up.

During Fountains of the Forgotten, when he comes to the first silent part, I let out a huge 'yeaaaaahh.' Sorry if I ruined any boots with that, but I couldn't resist. I've never done it in the past, but I was so into it and so close to the stage, I had to. Besides, it was my way of letting Big B know I'm a longtime fan, not someone who came after discovering him on Guitar Hero. Not that that's bad, but I wondered how he felt when Jordan got such a huge reaction, and other songs that are considered Bucket masterpieces such as Soothsayer or Scraps did not.

If you want to see a lot of Bucket, stand to the left of the stage. He played there or in the middle 90 percent of the night, I'd guess.

monkeychow

Cool review thanks. Hope he comes to australia one day...i'd love to see his skills in person!

Re: Buckethead: Chicago 5/31/08 review

Re: Buckethead: Chicago 5/31/08 review

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