Reeves Gabrels 7/5/17 Cafe 9

Veteran shreadmeister Gabrels led his power trio into the 9. Gabrels' wife was manning the merch table handing out earplugs to anyone with an ear. Reeves has a colorful past playing with David Bowie in Tin Machine and axe-wielding for Robert Smith and The Cure. Shaved-head drummer, shaved-head bass, and Gabrels with, you guessed it, shaved-head played originals and covers with stadium style flourish. The song structure was similar, fractured Barrett-like vocals got sucked into the maelstrom that was Gabrels guitar soloing. Good covers of Bright Lights Big City, a slowburn bluesy intro to Who Do You Love?, ending with a rousing Messin With The Kid. I got a similar feel in Cafe 9 when I saw Adrian Belew, technically flawless stadium tested guitar pyrotechnics that blistered the club size crowd. Gabrels was a sight to behold, like some Seuss-ian Grampa that could shread like Eddie Van Halen, he even had a guitar tech bringing him the axe dujour.