On September 9th, 2024, Guitar Virtuoso, Buckethead, performed at Asheville’s Orange Peel. Blowing away the audience with an incredible combination of a pre-recorded effect track and various guitar effect pedals.
Choosing a truly unique presentation of performance, Buckethead performed with no opening band and instead, played two sets of his own, separated by an intermission. This allowed the audience to almost get to know Buckethead or at least his stage persona.
It created an extraordinary connection between the audience and Buckethead, greatly supported by how much time he spent at the edge of the stage, practically beaming rhythmic energy into the crowd.
With his identity sealed by his iconic emotionless white mask, his unique lack of speech, and his quirky robotic movements, the audience gets to create this idea of who they think Buckethead is. This dynamic fueled an incredible performance.
Buckethead opened his first set with some of his classics, knowing that this would immediately get the audience fired up. And within only a minute or two, the venue was exploding with noise, and the crowd was ecstatic.
Buckethead’s first set truly defined his performance, it introduced his personality, it let the crowd explore the depth of his sound, and it created a wild, and intense, yet controlled atmosphere. Some moments could only be described as the pinnacle of guitar playing. Without a doubt, the first hour of the concert was pure energy.
However, the atmosphere began to change throughout the intermission. It felt like we had already seen the full extent of the concert. The crowd was already so blown away it would’ve been nearly impossible to top what had already been played.
As the second set kicked off, it was apparent that the routine needed to change. The vibrant riffs that had seemed so new and powerful slowly became overtly intense and at some points even obnoxiously loud, somewhat removing the audience from the experience.
At this point, Buckethead began performing covers of songs that wouldn’t necessarily make sense within the context of the setlist or the genre. In the first set, Buckethead covered Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs”, an Anti-War classic. Fitting the context of our time, and the avant-garde metal that Buckethead is proficient in.
This is why a cover of “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, left audience members scratching their heads with its presence in the set. That being said, there was no doubting the musical quality of these covers, just odd within the context of the setlist.
Buckethead returned to his original music towards the end of the set, a grand finale of sorts. The audience roared hearing the return of the virtuoso’s signature sound. However, this “grand finale” contained a particularly repetitive guitar riff that would reappear every couple of minutes, as a way to fill the gaps between songs.
The only issue with this riff is its overwhelming abundance within the final songs. The riff comes back so often it became almost comical by the end of the show. A song would play from start to finish and then the audience would be jarred right back into that ever-present riff.
There are legitimate technological obstacles when performing live with a prerecorded effect track, so there is a valid reason for the existence of a riff to bridge the music between songs, however, variety in music is to be treasured. And the recurrence of a single riff over 5 times will muddy an audience’s experience with redundancy.
Nonetheless, these faults of the second set, in no way discredit the expertise and virtuosic abilities of guitar player Buckethead. Like most things in life, there are highs and lows. And Buckethead is valiantly skilled in making the best out of both.
With incredible showmanship and technical skill, Buckethead and his drummer, Dan “Brewer” Monti shredded through the Orange Peel for 2 hours, overall leaving the audience in awe, walking out of the venue wondering how anyone could have gained so much skill with one instrument.
