DC3 (label)
26 April 2010 (released)
26 April 2010
There aren’t too many genuine 'supergroups’ operating today but Chickenfoot definitely come into that category and after the enormous success of their first album it was pretty inevitable that Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony & Chad Smith were going to make a live DVD to go with the album.
No big surprises: Sammy Hagar is a superb frontman and he belts out his vocals from behind jet black ray-bans – a man in constant movement, huge smile on his face and in total command of the stage: Joe Satriani looking impossibly cool and making shredding guitar look like the easiest thing in the world and Michael Anthony and Chad Smith driving the music along like a rock version of Sly & Robbie and all the while playing the song from the album the way that they were meant to be played.
'Avenida Revolution’ is belted out with all the power and threat of the original and 'Sexy Little Thing’ is funky and sassy. 'Soap On A Rope’ is still the weakest song on the album but 'Down The Drain’ is turned in a stretched low-rider of a number with some great bass lines and Satriani shredding for all he’s worth.
Satriani actually pulls out an acoustic for 'Bitten By The Wolf’, a number that wasn’t on the CD originally. Their version of 'downhome Blues’ and Hagar having some fun with a N’Orleans style number.
These guys have been around the block for a while and they know all the tricks for keeping an audience happy – not least is their ability to change speed and start bringing in the crowd with a good old chant or three – but the biggest is simply their ability.
The only drawback with this set is the fact that they have only made one album as a band and I for one would not have complained if they had done versions of some of the music they have played on in their other 'incarnations’ but that is being a little churlish – as a band they have made a great album and they should celebrate it.
Chickenfoot: Get Your Buzz On “Live” is released on DVD & Blu-ray in the USA by EMI America (April 20), and in the UK by Eagle Rock Entertainment (April 26). Further info: www.chickenfoot.us
