One of the most beloved aspects of rock and metal music is the guitar. It’s the genre that puts the instrument at the forefront of the music, and really lets the musician shine even brighter than the vocalist at times. They are the genres that have bred the instrumental guitarist. Solo guitarists that are the stars of their own music. With such heavy weights like Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and John 5 who have become household names.
One other heavyweight that I feel gets left out of conversations is Buckethead. Some people may think of him as a gimmicky guitarist as he adorns a KFC Family Size chicken bucket on his head, but this man has released over 325 albums of music that is cherished by diehard fans across the globe. Word of mouth passed to me that this entity of a guitar master was playing a show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. I could not find any social media posts about the show, any algorithmic adverts for this show, even Bucketheads own website didn’t mention this show was happening. Despite the mystery — when I pulled up to the venue — the line was around the block with people waiting to get in, and upon walking into the place it was sold out with screaming fans.
I’ve seen quite a few instrumental guitarists over the years and was curious to see how Buckethead would differentiate himself from the others. Besides the obvious bucket. He would let his fingers be the showman and star of the night. The way they waltz across his custom Gibson Signature Les Paul was a sight to behold. It was pure elegance the way he maneuvers through the chords and across the fret board — but, it’s how he incorporates his right hand with the instrument that allows him to truly get the sound and tone he is so well known for. Not just strumming, but finger plucking the strings, tapping around the fret board, and laying into the kill switch on his guitar to add more texture and flavor.
The only thing that Buckethead really doesn’t bring is a stage show. He preferred standing near the backline of the stage, and really didn’t move around much. This didn’t stop the diehard fans from rocking out to the music. People could be seen headbanging, rocking in place, and plenty of the woman in the audience were dancing on their boyfriends — which for an instrumental niche guitar player, it was a surprisingly mixed crowd of men and women in the audience.
Buckethead made the night about him, which the fans greatly appreciated. With no opener, he instead gave us all two sets of his own music. With set 1 featuring the songs “Big Sur Moon,” “Maskatron Roper Day of the Robot,” “Fountains of the Forgotten,” “Night of the Slunk,” “Revenge of the Double-Man,” “The Interworld and the New Innocence,” and ending the set with “Jowls.”
With no announcement or understanding, the house lights came on and many people went to the bathroom — however, some people understood this wasn’t the end of the show and stayed. If you didn’t know how a Buckethead show works, you probably would have left at this point thinking the show was over. After the short intermission he came back to play “Solar and Lunar Rain,” “War Pigs,” “Gory Stump Head 2006: The Pageant of the Slunks,” “Soothsayer,” “Toy Giveaway,” “Meta-Matic,” and coming back with a final encore of “Jordan.”
Buckethead has been a bucket list artist for me to see for a while, and I am glad to have checked him off that list. What he lacked in stage presentation was made up for in pure technical talent. His music may not be in the mainstream, but his name is known by every guitar enthusiast out there. And if by some rhyme or reason you have not heard of this man or his music, and you play guitar. Do yourself a favor, pull up Spotify, and start jamming to his music.
BUCKETHEAD – JUNE 14, 2024 – THE WILTERN (LOS ANGELES)
