It is always hard to talk about Steve Vai without undergoing the rigours of defending him. People only see his stage persona, its extravagance and his frozen-in-the-80s way of performing. What a lot of people fail to see is to see through this, away from the obvious visuals and listen to the wonder, wickedness and wizardry of his guitar playing. I can confidently proclaim that he is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most impressively empowered master of the instrument called the guitar. Having seen him numerous times live – and others such as Satriani, Petrucci, Lukather – I feel I am in some way educated enough to make this proclamation near fact. It is a fact that I have never seen, heard or experienced a musician with as much mastery of an instrument; precision, power and temperament all combined. While live he shines like no other, his albums offer a true indication of the complexities of his orchestrations. And now comes a DVD, Where the Wild things Are, which combines his studio produced precision with the warmth, expression and natural sound of being performed live. I think my lucky stars each time I can sit back and let an aural feast take me over, and this is one I think will take me some time to fully digest.

It is apparent within the first five minutes that this is a concert like no other. Vai is accompanied by his long time backup axe-man Dave Weiner. I mean that name is pretty damn funny when you consider what this guy has to do. On drums is the accomplished Jeremy Colson, who it would seem gets his energy and skill from the more ink he has etched into his skin. The man is a machine! On bass is Bryan Beller – who is he? I dunno. Perhaps the two most interesting members of this incarnation of the Steve Vai live band are Alex DePue and Ann Marie Calhoun, both of which play the violin. It is amazing the depth these two add to the stringed onslaught. Some songs, like an all time fave of mine from Fire Garden called ‘Crying Machine’ are given a whole new level of awesome.

But you don’t get a Steve Vai recording to hear the other members of the band, the same way you don’t get a two piece feed from KFC for the bun. You are there for the main event, the fried chicken, and in Steve Vai’s case, the fucking brilliant guitar playing. I have always thought the mark of a great guitar player is their ability to completely overcome a lack of vocals in a song by replacing them with layered guitars, harmonies and amazing tricks and licks. Satriani has always been a fave due to his ability to make rocking grooves spectacular with his highly expressive playing. But Vai is just a whole different, bigger and more complicated beast.

He truly does become one with the guitar and his ability to make the instrument a beast in its own right is unrivalled. I have heard other guitarists play as fast as him, but none with his level of expression. He gives the guitar a voice, a means to communicate with an audience on a level much higher than just straight shredding. I have heard others give their guitar a workout, stretching its strings and pushing its wah. But none do it like Vai. In fact, he can make a guitar do things that I honestly don’t think anyone else can or would have the creativity to try. And one of my favourite things is that he colours his dramatic brilliance with physical movements (more of a ‘sensual’ slithering) of such hilarity that its a true shock that he can move and play the way he does.

I briefly mentioned the violins earlier, and to hear these strings with the wildness of Vai is simply awesome. And its not just electric guitars he has control over, there are also songs on here where he plays an acoustic, and these are simply breathtaking. The man is an absolute animal, filled with energy, enthusiasm and a whole lot of extravagance. One of the most impressive parts of this performance is that it never begins to wane, it never slows down, the awesome never dissipates. The concert is considerably long, close to three hours, yet every second keeps you stuck within its power. That being said it can almost feel overwhelming through sheer onslaught.

Goddamnit Steve Vai is just the best, and I also thank my lucky stars that my older brother got me hooked on hits magic. And it truly is magic; its not just speed speed speed, its clarity of expression, exuberance and energy. Simply stunning, mind-blowing, brilliant and more adjectives that I cannot be bothered finding. If you like guitar driven music, you need to appreciate this DVD. If you cannot look past the way Vai moves, you are truly losing out on something simply spectacular.