Late last year, guitar wizard John 5, released his 7th solo album entitled “Careful with That Axe.” The difference between the previous six efforts and this one was John 5 finally caved and decided to actually do some dates in support of it. He is in the midst of a 28 city tour. On a day that travel wasn’t the safest, I made my way from Buffalo to Rochester to see John play a small club called the Montage Music Hall.
This was the first time I got to see John performing a solo show, so I was really looking forward to it. John 5 and The Creatures took the stage at about 10:30pm. This 3-piece outfit played for about an hour and 15 minutes, running the gamut through various styles of music. John 5 may be known for his outlandish stage presence but when you actually listen to his playing, he proves as diverse, as he is talented. Besides rock, John 5 played flamenco, blues, jazz country and it all seemed to flow seamlessly together to make what John called his show, “weird shit.”
This show was entirely instrumental. The only spoken word offered was about halfway through the set where he thanked the fans for coming out on a night where the weather wasn’t conducive for driving. He introduced The Creatures (drummer Rodger Carter and bassist Ian Ross) and then went on to talk about how he never knew that people would be interested to hear him play some weird shit. Well, the large size crowd definitely came and supported this very talented shredder.
On top of his talents, John showcased a slew of unique guitars. During “Sin,” he came out with a brightly illuminated guitar, and also brought out one that had liquid in it that he kept holding in various directions during “Feisty Cadavers.” The guitar and song had a “Creature of the Black Lagoon” vibe to it.
He also invited up a fan to play a few chords at the end of the show before he went into the Michael Jackson cover “Beat It.” For the encore, John 5 showed his influences by playing snippets of 11 various classic rock songs. Again, he is one of the most underrated guitar players on the planet and it was such a treat to finally see him do his own thing!
Setlist:
Flight of the Vulcan Kelly
Villisca
This is my Rifle
Interlude
Sin
El Cucuy Interlude
El Cucuy
Jiffy Jam (Jerry Reed cover)
Interlude
Portrait of Sidney Sloan
Guitar solo
Six Hundred and Sixty Six Pickers in Hell Ca
Interlude
Mad Monster party
Young Thing
First Victim
Feisty Cadavers
Beat it (Michael Jackson cover)
Encore:
Covers Medley (Van Halen “Somebody Get Me a Doctor,” Black Sabbath “Heaven and Hell,” Metallica “Enter Sandman.” Judas Priest “Living After Midnight,” Iron Maiden “The Trooper,” Rob Zombie “Thunder Kiss ’65,” KISS “Detroit Rock City,” Queen “We Will Rock You,” Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train,” Marilyn Manson “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” version, and AC/DC “Highway to Hell”)
We would like to thank Nancy Sayle from VQPR for the credentials to review the show.
