LIVE: Adrian Belew @ The Egg, Albany, 08/19/2022

Adrian Belew “Elevator Summer Tour 2022” – The Hart Theatre at The Egg

A disappointingly sparse crowd at the Hart Theatre was rewarded with a scintillating display of guitar pyrotechnics by Adrian Belew Friday night.

Hard driving new wave pop, obtuse prog, shrieking skronk, delicate acoustic curlicues, heavy rifferama – Belew can play it all – and did.

Ably supported by his cohorts in his self-described “power trio”, long-standing bassist Julie Slick, and “new guy”, drummer and harmony vocalist Johnnie Luca, Belew ran the gamut of his solo material (25 albums so far as he noted proudly) and his work with an impressive number and variety of collaborators. Zappa, Bowie, Talking Heads, Nine Inch Nails, King Crimson; the list is both impressive and eclectic.

And how best to describe Belew’s guitar playing?

Well, imagine humpback whales mournfully singing to one another as they navigate the dusty and dry canals of Mars. Or Dick Dale and Link Wray facing off in a feedback-drenched knife fight outside a Waikiki dive bar as the wail of police sirens draws ever nearer. Or the death throes of a Space Invaders arcade video game as it melts inside a microwave built by Jim Marshall.

Er, pretty weird, that is.

Belew opened with a brisk electric set, followed by a delightful acoustic interlude that included a good-natured Q & A session where he fielded questions from the audience. We learned that he got on with everyone he played with, got some technical stuff about controlling feedback, and that his current band is his favorite. And with good reason. Slick and Luca were both excellent, handling the mind-boggling breadth of material with a minimum of flash and a maximum of chops.

Belew promised that after a short intermission the power trio would return and turn up the intensity.

He didn’t lie.

The second set leaned heavily on King Crimson material from his tenure in the band, when they (Crimson) were exploring the boundaries of prog, metal and new wave. They closed with “Indiscipline.” Introduced by Slick’s staccato bass riff, Luca launched into a ferocious solo before the whole band thundered into one of the most gonzoid songs that King Crimson (or anyone else for that matter) has ever committed to vinyl.

The crowd erupted and Belew and his band happily returned to encore with the jammy instrumental “e”.

Originality is in short supply in music, as in all art forms, but witnessing Adrian Belew you are left in no doubt that you are hearing a fiercely independent and unique voice. Just stunning.

Setlist:

Set 1:

• b 3
• Frame By Frame
• Men in Helicopters
• Big Electric Cat
• 117 Valley Drive
• A Car I can talk to
• Ampersand
• Beat Box Guitar
• Acoustic set:
• Big Blue Sun
• The Power of the Natural World
• Luminous
• You Can’t Lie to Yourself
• A 13

Set 2:

• b
• Young Lions
• Walking on Air
• Neurotica
• Three of a Perfect Pair
• Drum solo
• Indiscipline

Encore:

• e

Photo Gallery of Adrian Belew at The Egg by Rudy Lu