Located in the diverse and artsy downtown Atlanta neighborhood of Little Five Points, the Variety Playhouse welcomed guitar virtuoso Buckethead (Brian Carroll) to town on Thursday night. Established in 1940, this converted World War II-era movie theater has been a local cornerstone of live entertainment for decades, with an enjoyable mix of raised, theater-style reserved seats set directly behind a large general admission floor for flexible audience viewing of their favorite touring artists.
With a layer of humidity still heavy in the air following afternoon storms, Buckethead’s dedicated fans were already lining up more than an hour before scheduled doors. As anticipated, the line was littered with fans wearing their own KFC buckets in support of Buckethead’s typical performance ensemble. Of note, his soundcheck (which you could easily hear if you were at the front of the line) seemingly started late or went longer than expected, as doors opened about 20 minutes behind schedule. By that point the line wrapped around the building and down the alley.
As the clock approached 8:30pm and with the general admission crowd pressed up against the stage, Buckethead (who did not have an opener) appeared with his Gibson guitar in hand. Donning his signature expressionless white mask and KFC bucket hat, the guitarist began his night with “Big Sur Moon” off his 1998 release and fourth studio album, Colma. Supporting Buckethead on stage behind the drums and microphone, albeit not for every song, was Dan “Brewer” Monti, a musician/producer/audio engineer that has worked with Buckethead for decades.
I have never seen Buckethead perform live, but what an experience it was. His guitar chops and creativity are undeniable, with fingers that bend almost awkwardly along the neck like bird talon formations. He delivered crunchy power chords one minute, and then had the guitar spit out robotic sound effects minutes later. Buckethead also holds the distinction of owning one of the most difficult tracks to play on Guitar Hero II with the tune “Jordan,” which he played during his first hour-long set of the night.
Following a brief 15-minute intermission that started at 9:15pm, Buckethead returned to the stage in front of the capacity crowd and performed some familiar chord progressions pulled from random songs by artists like the Backstreet Boys, Dio, and Black Sabbath. This post-intermission set was also an hour long, and even included Buckethead picking up the bass to finish a song due to a broken string on his guitar.
Towards the end of the second set, as was apparently common at his shows, he brought out a large grey sack and was trading toys and gifts with his adoring fans in the first few rows. Buckethead then slowly walked the length of the stage with his guitar lowered down into the crowd so the fans could interact with it. After casually strolling off for a few moments, Buckethead returned to finish off his evening with the shredder “Soothsayer,” a track pulled from his eighteenth studio album, Crime Slunk Scene (2006).
Buckethead has sporadic performance dates scheduled through the end of October, where he will wrap up his currently-posted set of appearances at The Fillmore in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, October 31st. What a perfect show for Halloween!
Band:
Buckethead – Guitar
Del Ray Brewer (Dan Monti) – Drums, vocals
Setlist (Set 1):
1.) Big Sur Moon
2.) Maskatron Roper Day of the Robot
3.) Reflections
4.) Fountains of the Forgotten
5.) Night of the Slunk
6.) Headstump
7.) When You Wish Upon a Star / War Pigs / A Pirate’s Life For Me
8.) Praxis
9.) Jordan
10.) Buckethead’s Toystore
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.