As a wanna-be-good guitarist I was full of enthusiasm when the live date of Paul Gilbert in Athens was announced. I was eager and excited to watch live a great musician and stage performer and of course one of my guitar idols! So, there were about 320 fans who came to An Club that night in order to enjoy the live performance of this guitar master. This live event was even more special to me since this was going to be the first time to see Paul Gilbert live, despite the fact that he had come to Greece many times before.

There we were waiting for the show to start and chatting about what covers would Paul probably do. After a small delay the band took the stage starting with "Fuzz Universe" and "Olympic"; two songs from his latest solo studio album "Fuzz Universe". The band was from the beginning energetic and the fans were very supportive and enthusiastic. The sound was very good during the instrumental tracks but unfortunately not for the vocals (in the cover songs) that we could barely hear some times. The setlist was simply great containing songs from his solo career, RACER X songs, a variety of covers of many songs that Paul loves and just one from MR.BIG the great "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind". The band was having fun on stage and seemed to really enjoy playing live in front of the Greek audience. The gig had many highlights that electrified the audience: "Paul Vs Godzilla", "Norwegian Cowbell", RACER X all time favorites such as "Scarified" and "Technical Difficulties" and fantastic covers like "Roundabout" of YES, "Light My Fire" of THE DOORS, "I Want To Be Loved" of Muddy Waters etc… So many great moments! Each one of the band members had its own time to get in the front and play some solos. All of them were very good technicians. As for Paul Gilbert what can I say… he is a guitar 'god' and put on an incredible and stunning performance. He improvised a lot and also made some minor or major changes on the solos of his songs depending on the occasion.

The end of this 2 hour gig held some other great moments with the band playing "Little Wing" of Jimi Hendrix, "Down To Mexico" and AC/DC 's "Go Down" which closed their set. The band left the stage under a thunderous applause with the fans chanting Paul Gilbert 's name. What we witnessed was a wonderful 2 hour show of one of the best guitarists which undoubtedly left everyone fully satisfied and happy.

P.S. I hope that we will eventually see MR.BIG live in Greece. Will this dream of mine (and of many other fans) come true? Only time will tell…