Buckethead

House of Blues, Anaheim

You gotta wonder sometimes. Having found out about Buckethead from a guitar magazine voting him one of the weirdest guitar players in history, along with seeming him walk by at a NAMM show, I was awfully intrigued by this freak of nature. Hanging out with the likes of Bootsy Collins and Guns and Roses you gotta wonder what was up with this guy. So I downloaded a couple of his songs, decided I didn't really want to buy a CD of his work, and came to the conclusion that while he wasn't really my cup of tea musically, he still is one kick-ass son-of-a-bitch when it comes to playing his axe. I figured it was worth the bucks and the inconvenience of partying (albeit mildly) the night before the long drive up 395 to Hot Creek.

So anyway, Buckethead's Giant Robot was not really all that giant. One bass player and a drummer with some electronic percussion added for good measure pretty much rounded out the trio. Mr. Bucket, true to form, came out on stage dressed in black, with the Jason mask, the KFC bucket on his head with the funeral sticker on it, and a beautiful white Gibson. In the search for doing something original and unique, you gotta wonder where these guys get these ideas. But all the novelty of his appearance aside, Buckethead is one fucking ridiculously good guitar player.  Doing a lot of stuff I hadn't seen before guitar-wise and coaxing out some killer tone on his somewhat minimal setup I was pretty much floored by what this guy can do. Although he didn't really play any kick ass GNR style tunes, he did throw in enough power chords to at least make it loud and dirty. 

I won't say I'll go spend money to see Buckethead again. But that's only because he's not really my cup of tea, and I really do prefer something with a little more headbanging, moshing, or at least toe-tapping going on. If you play you should see him, and if you like his stuff, it's totally worthwhile. I wasn't disappointed by any stretch of the imagination for going,  but having seen him once, I think I'm pretty much done for a while. But that's just me.

You can find the Buckethead here.