To say the three members of The Aristocrats are virtuosi is an understatement. Last night in Tel Aviv Guthrie Govan (guitar), Bryan Beller (bass) and Marco Minnemann (drums) displayed almost superhuman mastery of their instruments. As well as a fantastic sense of humor.
The June 26th concert was held in Reading 3, a beautiful music venue on the Tel Aviv port. Previously, I have seen two of my childhood guitar heroes perform at Reading 3 — Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen. It is possible that Govan and co surpassed them both in their dexterity and skill.
The band walked out before a packed house while Devo’s “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” was still playing over the sound system. So the band joined right in. Then without missing a beat, they segued into “Stupid 7.”
After that, each song was introduced with a story, usually with an element of comedy. So, Govan asked the audience to envisage a rockhopper penguin, patrolling Antarctica on a snowmobile wearing a policeman’s cap before the band played a brand new song — “Sgt. Rockhopper.” He also spoke of his sadness at the asteroid which wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, at the end of the cretaceous period, before launching into “Bad Asteroid.”
Marco spoke of his pride at getting a “Parental Advisory” sticker attached to the band’s first album, even though, like all their albums, it was an instrumental. That was because of a song called “Bluesf***er” which tonight began as a five-minute vamp on “Hava Nagila” — probably the most interesting rendition of the song I’ve ever heard.
While Minnemann performed his 10-minute drum solo, Beller sat on a stool at the side tapping time on his legs, while Govan sat cross-legged on the floor, filing his nails with various gradations of emery board.
Minnemann displayed an impressive Hebrew vocabulary, whereas Beller, who described himself as, “a stubborn Jewish kid from New Jersey” didn’t manage much more than “good evening” in Hebrew.
Occasionally, Minnemann would punctuate a song with an “oink” from a squeaky plastic pig he placed on his cymbal. Beller would reply with a “squawk” from a rubber chicken.
In between songs, Govan managed to sign a couple of his signature Charvel guitars that fans had bought along with them. He also apologized that he wouldn’t be throwing picks out to the front row, but he only had three to last him the year.
The Aristocrats have performed several times in Israel, and tonight the venue was sold out.
The full setlist was:
- (Intro: Devo “Satisfaction”)
- Stupid 7
- Drink Package
- Sgt. Rockhopper
- Bad Asteroid
- Bonnie and Clyde
- Aristoclub / Drum Solo
- Through the Flower
- Ohhh Nooo
- Furtive Jack
- Last Orders
- Encore: Blues F***ers
