Review by Shawn Perry
Even though the Steve Morse Band has been on the road steadily since early 2023, I hadn’t seen Morse perform on stage since 2019 when he was with Deep Purple. Therefore, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. In his last few years with Purple, he’d experienced arthritis in his right hand, which made it painful for him to play. It continued afterward, but he found works-arounds by changing his technique and redesigning his guitars.
The Steve Morse Band (SMB), which also features bassist Dave LaRue and drummer Van Romaine, haven’t released a new album since 2009’s Out Standing In Their Field. That is about to change with Triangulation, which Morse says “comes from the concept of aviators, navigators, and sailors looking at two points to pinpoint their exact location at a specific moment in time.”
On that note, I figured it was high time to check SMB out at the CMA Theater. There, before an intimate, obliged audience, they rolled out a 15-song set of both new and old instrumentals from their catalog for a mind-tingling 86 minutes.
Joining Morse, LaRue, and Romain on stage was a guitarist Angel Vivaldi, who’s made a name for himself with five solo albums and numerous concert appearances around the world. It was obvious from the get-go he was there to complement Morse, play rhythm to his solos and fill in gaps and holes. Morse mentioned that having a second guitarist on stage enabled the band to play and realize certain songs more fully in a live setting.
They came out swinging with a couple of oldies from the 20th century, 1992’s “User Friendly” and 1985’s “The Introduction,” the title track from the very first Steve Morse Band album. Morse looked relaxed and comfortable, his fingers nimble, his skills undiminished. Having Vivaldi and LaRue kick up the dust in the mix most definitely gives Morse more room and maneuverability. He was able to easily blow through what Guitar Player calls his trademark “blistering arpeggios and string-skipping” without missing a beat.
Before playing anything from Triangulation, Morse recalled how the band used to play new songs before they were released. It’s a brave move for anyone to do it. With Nashville being the second stop on the tour, Triangulation is still being road-tested so the stakes were high. This is where Vivaldi’s role as a foil to Morse went much further than expected.
On “Break Through,” the two guitarists exchanged leads like samurai warriors engaged in a ritualized exercise of honor and respect —tactical, painting sonic colors, ceding to one another at just the right intervals. Vivaldi wasn’t afraid to push the envelope at certain points, and Morse warmly accepted the challenge with a flurry of signature runs that rang out throughout the small, high-ceilinged venue.
A blaze through “Majorly Up,” from 2002’s Split Decision album, with its distinct phrasing and solo spots, including a bass minefield LaRue sets up over the melody of dual guitars, leads to the slow-burning countermeasures of “Vista Grande” from 1995’s Southern Steel. Here is where Morse was able to stretch out, showing no signs of degradation in his playing, as LaRue tumbled away on his own and Vivaldi coyly sidled alongside the main melody.
“TexUS,” another one from Triangulation that features Eric Johnson, found Morse and Vivaldi harmonizing on the song’s searing hook, then trading leads at the break before bringing it all home like a tight-fisted gauntlet to sum up every ill-mannered intent. For the remainder of the set, aside from the closing “Triangulation,” it was all about Out Standing In Their Field, itself an excellent overview of the versatility and strengths of the Steve Morse Band. It was during this portion that Vivaldi took a break from the stage.
That left the classic SMB power trio and “Brink of the Edge” is a prime example of that dynamic with a scattering of notes thrown around between Morse and LaRue while Romaine kept time. There were dips into some of those Celtic-flavored Morse is known for, while LaRue took a solo to even the keel of the ship. The two skipped through the folly of “Here And Now And Then” before ascending the peaks of “Relentless Encroachment.”
After a finely tuned drum solo from Romaine, Vivaldi returned to the fold as more tracks from Out Standing In Their Field were explored. Of these, “John Deere Letter” was a highlight with Morse countering his chicken picking against Vivaldi’s chicken scratching and LaRue’s chicken trotting for an all-out country-style chicken stew of unimaginable possibilities. Even Morse had to admit it was far more apropos to Nashville and “all the talent out there” than the cost of parking downtown, which the guitarist dissed in between songs more than once. Can’t say I disagree.
“Triangulation” proved to be the right number to finish the main set. The album version features Morse duetting with Dream Theater’s John Petrucci, so Vivaldi had to flex his muscles for those open pastures where the masters exude their powers and solos are conjured in the spirit of competitive folly. Each lick got a sharp response, and you could see the joy erupting around Morse, LaRue and Vivaldi as they completed the main set succinctly in sync.
For the two-song encore, they pulled out “Attila The Hun,” a Dixie Dregs plum brought in at Vivaldi’s suggestion, which gave everyone a run for their money. Once again, the front line went to work with a genteel, Dregs-like approach. Even without the violin, they sizzled through the song’s mainline melody like troopers on night patrol. Of course, there were plenty of openings for each player to tear into, which they each did with carefree abandon.
To wraps things up, it was back to 1984 and the launch of “Cruise Missile,” a jazz-laced cooker that heats up at every turn. Morse and LaRue locked in throughout, trading solos here and there, while Vivaldi treaded lightly with a range of harmonics and Romaine shuffled along at a rapid pace. Just when it seemed they could have gone on for another hour, it all came to a sudden end.
Seeing Steve Morse and his band operate at such a top-shelf, unparalleled level was invigorating and reassuring. It almost seemed with his struggles in the past — health issues, the demands of Deep Purple, and the passing of his wife — that Steve Morse was set to fade away into the sunset. As he continues to tour and record new albums like Triangulation, it’s clear his journey is nowhere near the end.
