I just got back from the Andy Timmons Clinic at American Guitar & Band over in Maple Grove (MN). It was such an amazing show. It was one of those things where I was such a big fan of Andy going into it, I had high expectations, and then all those expectations were blown away. It was like the first time I saw Dream Theater live. I was already a fan and didn't need anymore convincing, but seeing it in person just really took things to the next level.
We (myself and my friends Eric, and Mike) showed up about half of an hour early. Andy was still out to dinner and we spent some time talking to the owner's wife about how nice of a guy Andy is and how she couldn't believe how warm and inviting of a person he was. I didn't have a hard time believing it at all. I've sent emails to his webmaster before and gotten full, detailed replies from Andy himself. At one point he even offered to call me so we could talk "face-to-face" about some of the stuff I was asking. To kill some time after that I went and played a few of the Suhr's they had in stock and fell in love. More people started showing up and we decided to sit down before it got too packed. Andy finally showed up a bit late (they had trouble finding their way back). He went and warmed up a bit while Shawn, the Mesa Boogie Rep., came out and introduced him. Andy hit the stage right afterwards and made a few jokes about the weather before he started played. I was really surprised by how funny he is.
Anyway, he started the night with his "lonestar" set. He did a bunch of his earlier (pre-Resolution) tunes and just killed it. His tones were just as amazing as I expected. I was in heaven the whole time (save for the guy in front of me who's head kept me shfting from side to side to see things). There were some issues with balance between his guitar sound and the backing track sounds, but the only person who seemed to notice it much was Andy. The performance was just killer. His improv was totally on tonight and it was clear that he was having a killer time. He got lost during the end of Cry For You because he was so into it, but played through it beautifully and turned it into a really cool mistake. I can sympathize though...backing tracks don't really give you the chance to take too many freedoms, but when you're in the zone like that it's really hard not to. The set was:
-Super 70's
-Pink Champagne Sparkle
-Falling Down
-Beautiful, Strange
-Cry For You
He opened the floor for questions after that set. The crowd was really good for questions and he was really open about things and gave everyone very detailed answers. We talked about everything. There were lots of gear/tone questions, a few questions about how he approaches improv, some stuff about how he records, what gear he used on certain songs, etc. You could tell he was really digging all the discussion. He literally spent about an hour answering questions before the next set started (the "stilleto" set). He talked a bit about the differences between the two amps. He did point out that he prefers the lonestar and that it is his "desert Island" amp...assuming the island has electricity (he follwed that up by playing/singing the gilligans island theme to the tune of stairway to heaven). He played some songs off of Resolution. The set was:
-Deliver Us
-Helipad
-Gone
He then took more questions (a few from me included) and did an encore of "Electric Gypsy" (by request) and "Groove or Die".
All in all the night was amazing. He is such a natural and gifted performer with such an obvious passion for what he does. I was a bit taken back by how kind and gracious he was. I don't mean kind and gracious "for a musician" (I make it a point not to hold people to different standards just because they are a musician I respect), but he really was one of the most humble and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was a really funny guy too...he didn't play his Manilow-medley as he had joked about early in the night...but we did get Freebird, The Girl from Ipanema, and Mandy out of him. Aftewards, I went up to the table and bought his new DVD and he signed an 8X10 for me. We talked about how I'm in school for music and how one of the groups I'm in just covered "Deliver Us". He seemed a bit taken back and said he was really honored that we did that. I told him about how I'm working on transcribing the entire Resolution album and he encouraged me to send him the finished copies when I'm done. I think I'm going to drop him a line tonight (while he still remembers who I am lol) to see if he wants me to send some of what I have already and see if I can't get that line of contact open.
To sum up his playing....wow. I pretty much knew this well before going into tonight, but the amount of effort he puts into his tone (not to mentoin the results) are incredible. He's one of those guys that doesn't make a single noise without considering everything that goes into it. The guy is simply a monster. Bottom-line: If you ever get a chance to see him...any chance at all...do it.
We (myself and my friends Eric, and Mike) showed up about half of an hour early. Andy was still out to dinner and we spent some time talking to the owner's wife about how nice of a guy Andy is and how she couldn't believe how warm and inviting of a person he was. I didn't have a hard time believing it at all. I've sent emails to his webmaster before and gotten full, detailed replies from Andy himself. At one point he even offered to call me so we could talk "face-to-face" about some of the stuff I was asking. To kill some time after that I went and played a few of the Suhr's they had in stock and fell in love. More people started showing up and we decided to sit down before it got too packed. Andy finally showed up a bit late (they had trouble finding their way back). He went and warmed up a bit while Shawn, the Mesa Boogie Rep., came out and introduced him. Andy hit the stage right afterwards and made a few jokes about the weather before he started played. I was really surprised by how funny he is.
Anyway, he started the night with his "lonestar" set. He did a bunch of his earlier (pre-Resolution) tunes and just killed it. His tones were just as amazing as I expected. I was in heaven the whole time (save for the guy in front of me who's head kept me shfting from side to side to see things). There were some issues with balance between his guitar sound and the backing track sounds, but the only person who seemed to notice it much was Andy. The performance was just killer. His improv was totally on tonight and it was clear that he was having a killer time. He got lost during the end of Cry For You because he was so into it, but played through it beautifully and turned it into a really cool mistake. I can sympathize though...backing tracks don't really give you the chance to take too many freedoms, but when you're in the zone like that it's really hard not to. The set was:
-Super 70's
-Pink Champagne Sparkle
-Falling Down
-Beautiful, Strange
-Cry For You
He opened the floor for questions after that set. The crowd was really good for questions and he was really open about things and gave everyone very detailed answers. We talked about everything. There were lots of gear/tone questions, a few questions about how he approaches improv, some stuff about how he records, what gear he used on certain songs, etc. You could tell he was really digging all the discussion. He literally spent about an hour answering questions before the next set started (the "stilleto" set). He talked a bit about the differences between the two amps. He did point out that he prefers the lonestar and that it is his "desert Island" amp...assuming the island has electricity (he follwed that up by playing/singing the gilligans island theme to the tune of stairway to heaven). He played some songs off of Resolution. The set was:
-Deliver Us
-Helipad
-Gone
He then took more questions (a few from me included) and did an encore of "Electric Gypsy" (by request) and "Groove or Die".
All in all the night was amazing. He is such a natural and gifted performer with such an obvious passion for what he does. I was a bit taken back by how kind and gracious he was. I don't mean kind and gracious "for a musician" (I make it a point not to hold people to different standards just because they are a musician I respect), but he really was one of the most humble and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was a really funny guy too...he didn't play his Manilow-medley as he had joked about early in the night...but we did get Freebird, The Girl from Ipanema, and Mandy out of him. Aftewards, I went up to the table and bought his new DVD and he signed an 8X10 for me. We talked about how I'm in school for music and how one of the groups I'm in just covered "Deliver Us". He seemed a bit taken back and said he was really honored that we did that. I told him about how I'm working on transcribing the entire Resolution album and he encouraged me to send him the finished copies when I'm done. I think I'm going to drop him a line tonight (while he still remembers who I am lol) to see if he wants me to send some of what I have already and see if I can't get that line of contact open.
To sum up his playing....wow. I pretty much knew this well before going into tonight, but the amount of effort he puts into his tone (not to mentoin the results) are incredible. He's one of those guys that doesn't make a single noise without considering everything that goes into it. The guy is simply a monster. Bottom-line: If you ever get a chance to see him...any chance at all...do it.
