At around 1:47 you can see Eric smiling at someone. That someone was me, waving to him. We had a few eye clicking moments that show. I’ve been to a few Eric shows in Portland (always right up at the stage), and after each show I always wait out back to say hi to Eric. After this night in particular, he remembered me from the shows I had met him before. I’ll never forget that interaction until the day I die. Being remembered (let alone acknowledged) by your guitar idol is a feeling like no other. I went back to school that morning on zero sleep, still thinking about what an amazing show and interaction that was. I was 18 at the time.
On top of that, meeting Roscoe Beck and Tom Bretchlein was really cool. Since Eric took his time to come out (he was seeing family I think), the rest of the band sat out with me and we had a really great conversation for about 30 or 45 minutes. I’ll never forget the end of that conversation when Roscoe shook my hand and said “man, I can’t wait to hear what you do with your music one day. Hope to see you again someday” (we talked about my experiences with music and the bands I was in). Most humble and kind musician, same with Tom. They told me about all their experiences with various acts such as Kenny Loggins, Robben Ford, etc….really incredible night.
The player with the white strat is actually playing the most inspiring and I am actually a great fan of both Eric and Paul but man the least known of the three was the most shining on this one
well, the way i take it is - paul and eric and too humble to do some fancy stuff. they're already well established musicians, there's no point to be flashy.
big fan of Eric and Paul, but that other guy just took it and ran with it- great sense of melody and a cool unique approach. Says something to be able to shine on that stage!
About two of the nicest, coolest guitarists on the planet, so fun. I enjoy looking at the crowd at a EJ concert, it's usually a middle age sausge party, haha.
Okay, so I read through all of the 169 comments... First off "time" is in the eye of the beholder. I see three excellent musicians having a good time (no pun intended). What I find to be extraordinary is the fact that this is "Eric Johnson & the Blue Line (featuring Paul and Dave)". In 2020 no less... Come on! Give it up for the rhythm section people.
I like Paul and the enthusiasm he brings on stage :-) Eric's tone is awesome as always.. but the third guy takes the cake with his melodic approach.. making sense by going from a to b to c in a coherent way; pleasure to the ears 😀 Sympathetic as he is, Paul was not feeling the music very well imo.. sounding a bit like these "shred" spoof vids... which, coming to think of it, shows he has a brilliant sense of humor if he did it deliberately... I wouldn't put it past him haha :p
Before it began EJ should have said: “ I can’t hear ya... WHAT SONG IS IT YOU WANNA HEAR? Then they unleash this epic 3 guitar master class just like LS.
How things have changed at the Aladdin Theater. In the 70's and 80's it was a porn institution (the number one exhibitor of the X-rated classic Deep Throat). I remember going past it every day to school and on the marquee it would read, "Now playing Deep Throat". Lol.
This is kinda hard for Paul to jam with EJ, in front of his audience, using ZAP, which is an incredible song and really difficult to sound good over that harmony that is outside Paul's territory . Let's leave at that, but the other sounded good, who is that guy anyway amongst the giants.
They can all be better than what they did. Learning is continuous. What is tastiest is not necessarily what is fastest. It depends on the goosebumps produced. : )
The white strat guy is like Steve Morse and EJ as well This song Zap off Tones, is kind of a Dregs vibe after all EJ was on Steve Morse Unity Gain wich has some killer guitar like Pick your Poison
That’s Roscoe Beck. He was a legendary bassist in Texas for years, and was EJ’s main bassist for several years. He played the bass parts on “Tones”, Eric’s major label debut. Good to see him still kicking ass, since his main focus has been production for a long time.
To. Much better than for me. Gilbert played Gilbert.. Scher played Scher.. EJ. Is doing a show he is in charge and playing exactly what he wants he isn't competing. And if you have seen an EJ show he tears it up playing Eric Johnson. I'm sure he new PG was going g to sit in and picked a song that would work for him . Then when they were done playing . The EJ show continued. His performances are very rehearsed. And no one can doodle doodle doodle Eric Johnson like Eric Johnson. Just go with it
Paul sounds as out of his element with EJ as EJ did with Mike Stern . Paul has his own signature songwriting style with Racer X I like Paul in his own element
The dude with the white strat had the best sound and his playing was great.Eric is probably the best player but his sound was to muffled as usual and Paul sound was super thin.He probably just used some rental gear or whatever amp they had sitting there.
It's not about the gear, but his playing is a little bit generic to say the least. Don't get me wrong, he nails it pretty well like always, but it doesn't quite merge well with EJ tunes.
Here they ran circles around him with that style, harmony and chords that he is not used to, but.congrats to him to still have the balls to go there in front of EJs crowd
All the people talking about the "third" player make me laugh. I saw the comments before his solo came up so I was really intrigued. His solo was in the style of Eric for a fair amount of it (which makes sense I suppose) but the rest was just going outside to go outside and meaningless scale runs with a usual "when in doubt, go fast" approach. I think the comments set him up with high expectations unfairly.
I just watched them live last night, I gotta tell you Dave Scher is one beast on his own. He played guitar on a couple of songs while EJ sat and played piano.
