14 Jan 2007, The Boardwalk, Orangevale, CA, USA

Greetings from Sacramento, California! Those favorite country cutouts of progressive composition, The Dixie Dregs, stopped in Orangevale last Sunday. Orangevale is a small town about a dozen miles north east of Sacramento. Nevertheless, the Dregs and company tore it up and played it loud! The evening was cold and windy outside. But the boys were firing on all cylinders in the Boardwalk! And my brother, Michael, and I got to witness this special show in the front row:

The evening started with the Steve Morse Band ( SMB ). Tight set! They opened with " Simple Simon " and went into a set list from just about every SMB album. There was a few surprises: " Night Meets Light " arranged for the trio. Included surprises was Steve on acoustic for " Little Kids. " Other highlights included the rarely but well played " On the Pipe " and an amazing version of " Rising Power. " But the real surprise was yet to come. Steve introduced his bud, Jeff Watson-of Night Ranger-to the stage to hit the crowd with a rip roaring version of " Cut to the Chase! " The guitar freaks air guitared a-plenty when Jeff and Steve traded licks. You would have thought you just visited Guitar Heaven!! After the SMB departed from the stage, a short 15 minute intermission came about, allowing the Dregs to get ready to rock the crowd. When they came up together, the crowd went nuts! Everyone knew the Dregs were here and were here to SHRED! And shred they did. Starting with " Take it Off the Top, the Dixie Dregs showed how to tear it up with grace and class. Highlights included classic Dregs music such as " Country House Shuffle, " the Yardbird's classic " Shapes of Things " and " Divided We Stand. " In fact, they played so much music it's difficult to remember what songs they played! My personal favorite was " Odyssey, " a song which Steve jokingly referred to as the band's " pop song. " Sitting in front of Steve and T Lavitz, we were in awe. T had an excellent night of losing himself in the music and playing with such concentration and class. Jerry-wearing a Chicago Bears shirt-was on FIRE! His personal peek was on the band's of take on Mahavishnu 's " Celestial Terrestrial Commuters. "The last song " Bloodsucking Leeches " was " dedicated to the music business " by Steve and the lads. By 11:30 pm, the band had conquered another town. The show was the best show I have seen with Steve ( and I have seen Steve four times in concert ). Check out the Dixie Dregs and let the music wash all over you! !

P.S. Hey Steve, thanks for the guitar pick!!!

Dave "Guitar Freak" McCain

I've been going to Dregs/SMB shows since 1979, have lost count how many times I've seen them, and they never dissapoint. I arrived at the Boardwalk at 7:00 when the doors were scheduled to open (with show starting at 8:00). There were already more than 50 people in line, and the temp was about 30 degrees. I guess the equipment truck had arrived pretty late from SLC, and soundcheck/rehearsal was still going on, and didn't end until about 7:45. They started letting people in at about 8:00. SMB came out at about 8:45, and when they started playing the long wait in the cold was forgotten. Steve told how Florida humidity takes its toll on electrical equipment that was stored for two years since the last tour, corroding connections, etc and the extra effort needed to make all that stuff work properly caused some delay. He thanked us for our patience waiting in the cold, and sympathized with the fans having to then come in and sit on those hard seats (there weren't any seats :)). Highlight of the hour long SMB set for me was an extended Rising Power, and for the finale Steve brought out his buddy Jeff Watson (NightRanger)for a jam on Cut To The Chase. The set sounded great to my ears, with none of the rust mentioned in the Boulder reviews. After about a half hour changeover (the Boardwalk's stage is pretty small, so only one drum kit at a time could fit) the Dregs came out and started off with Take It Off The Top. Kat Food seemed to have a somewhat different arrangement than usual, and Odyssey was nailed perfectly. Celestial Terrestrial was very good, with Jerry's solos making Steve concede defeat. They finished up with Cruise Control, and a blistering Bloodsucking Leeches for the encore. I'd never been to the Boardwalk before, as I moved to the Sacramento area last year from LA. It's a pretty small club, and apparently Steve's been playing there for many years, since he was living in the area in the early 90's before moving to Florida. From the band flyers plastered all over the outside of the place, it looked like most of the bands that usually play there are punk/hardcore speed metal type bands. The SMB/Dregs blew the proverbial roof off the place, and even one of the young metal-head looking security guys remarked that "those guys played their hearts out tonight!" Indeed they did.

Charlie Bernhardt