[atlantaprog] Steve Morse

The Variety Playhouse was packed last night for the Steve Morse Band and the Dregs, but I did not see a single soul that I knew. Were any of you guys lurking in there somewhere?

There's less new music to be appreciated each time Steve Morse drags the Dregs back out onto the road since Deep Purple (and touring Europe and England) became the focus of Morse's professional life. That was ten years ago. But even if it's just a greatest hits cavalcade, the band and the audience had a great time.

Whether it's the trio or the Dregs, it remains all about the interplay between Steve Morse and Dave LaRue, bassist, who continues to remind us that four strings are all that's necessary to wrench out an orchestra's worth of frenzied accompaniment--if you're Dave LaRue. But the rest of the band was spot on, once they got warmed up after a rather unexpectedly lackluster opening of "Cruise Control".

A highlight for me was the least frenzied moment, when Dave and his boss played two pieces as a bass and classical guitar duet. I don't know the names of the pieces but I would certainly enjoy getting ahold of a recording.

Every time Steve grabbed the mic, he mentioned that the Variety Playhouse is the band's favorite place to play, and how much they love the Atlanta audience.

Van Romaine and Rod Morgenstein gave an effusive drum duet for the first encore. For the ensemble pieces, this time around, Morgenstein was not playing monstrously over the top on every fill--he seemed to enjoy easing back a bit and being more supportive of everybody else's efforts.

If you weren't there, you would have enjoyed it.


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