Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
June 27th 2014, Saban Theatre, Beverly Hills CA: In 2012, a new power trio was born out of the union of bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist/vocalist Richie Kotzen, called The Winery Dogs. They released their self-titled debut album in 2013, earning plenty of plaudits from fans and critics alike, and embarked on a world tour to present these tunes live. Although they played the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills last October, which is technically part of the Los Angeles County, fans were awaiting the Dogs to mark their territory with a proper LA show, and it finally happened last night at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Even for musicians such as these who’ve played shows the world over, the insides of this beautiful theatre made for a breathtaking sight, as was evident from Mike Portnoy expressing sheer excitement at the prospect of playing here through his social media posts yesterday afternoon. Doors opened in the early evening, ticket holders trickled in, and within a short amount of time, the place was nearly packed to capacity in anticipation of a great rock show. I was given a seat ten rows from the stage, dead center, an absolutely perfect spot to review the show from, it must be said. The Winery Dogs hit the stage promptly at 9 PM, and for the next 100 minutes or so, treated this audience to a performance that exceeded the expectations of even their most die-hard fans.
They played the entirety of the self-titled debut but lengthened the set with a few aptly chosen cover tunes and a brand new, unreleased composition towards the end as well. No matter how familiar you are with a band’s studio recordings, they’d always be considered as somewhat of an unknown entity until you’ve seen them live, and that holds specially true for three-piece bands simply because there’s so much more they can do with their music in a live setting. Exactly as Billy Sheehan mentioned in my most recent interview with him, The Winery Dogs’ stage setup was very compact, not only ensuring a closely knit triumvirate between the three members but also creating the same show sonically and visually as that of a smaller, more intimate club/bar venue.
The Winery Dogs began with ‘Elevate’, the opening track of the album and then proceeded on to play all the other tunes but in an order different from that on the record itself. The track ordering was certainly successful as it resulted in a brilliantly flowing set that allowed fans to get a varied interpretation of the self-titled LP. Amongst these killer tunes they also threw in a cover of The Leaves’ ‘Hey Joe’ and Gary Wright’s ‘Love Is Alive’, Richie Kotzen’s own ‘Doin’ What The Devil Says to Do’ which he expectedly performed on stage all by himself, and Billy Sheehan’s old band Talas’ ‘Shy Boy’, the closing song and absolute pinnacle of this performance.
All three musicians were at the peak of their powers, and sparks flew through their combined efforts on stage. When it comes to highly pedigreed players, quite often there’s an air of pretentious about their live shows, but there was no such thing with Sheehan, Portnoy or Kotzen, and while this band’s music and live set lets them breathe and express their individualities to the fullest as they each get to do standalone solos, it’s clear from this show that it’s the sum of the parts that makes The Winery Dogs great.
Aside from exemplarily rocking their respective instruments, the three were also unified in some powerful vocal choruses which were an important feature of the performance, Portnoy in particular showcasing this aspect of his musicality a lot more than he’s ever done in any other band or project before, swiftly moving the microphone in and out of position all the while continuing to play the drums. He seemed to revel in playing both the slow and fast grooves that punctuated the drumming that’s demanded of him in The Winery Dogs, and in addition to bringing those songs to life, he came with a full bag of stick tricks and boundless energy as at one point he left his seat and took a full lap around the stage, drumming on rims, mic stands, the stage floor itself, and just about anything he could produce percussion out of.
Monster bassist Sheehan showed his class as well with jaw-dropping antics, and the mastery with which he makes the bass ‘talk’ by moving and bending it in various directions is second to none. Meanwhile, Kotzen held his own, delivering a delightfully clean yet heavy guitar sound and at the same time lending a touch of soul to the sound with his vocal style. He also played the acoustic guitar for his solo song and the piano for The Winery Dogs ballad ‘Regret’ which preceded the crescendo of ‘Shy Boy’ as the calm before the storm.
The brand new tune ‘Oblivion’ in all honesty was more enjoyable than anything on the debut record, and if The Winery Dogs’ music on that album was on ’10’, judging by this one song they’ve certainly taken it to ’11’ with the newer music they’ve composed since then, a great sign for them and their fans. Stylistically, The Winery Dogs have found the magic formula, achieving a perfect balance of intricacy and catchiness that can be easily and equally enjoyed by fans of virtuosic and simple rock music alike. It’ll be fascinating to see how they continue to maintain this balance on future releases, but the best part? We can indeed expect them to have a long future, as The Winery Dogs is a band, not a supergroup.
Check out a full gallery of 84 photos of The Winery Dogs from the show below, or view it here if you’re on a non-Flash device:
The Winery Dogs links:
TheWineryDogs.com
facebook.com/TheWineryDogs
twitter.com/TheWineryDogs
Set List:
01. Elevate
02. Criminal
03. We Are One
04. One More Time
05. Time Machine
06. Damaged
07. Six Feet Deeper
08. Hey Joe (The Leaves cover)
09. The Other Side
10. Bass Solo
11. You Saved Me
12. Not Hopeless
13. Doin’ What The Devil Says to Do (Richie Kotzen song)
14. Love Is Alive (Gary Wright cover)
15. I’m No Angel
16. The Dying
17. Desire
Encore:
18. Oblivion
19. Regret
20. Shy Boy (Talas cover)
Remaining US Dates:
Sat 6/28 – Agoura Hills, CA – Canyon Club
Mon 6/30 – San Francisco, CA – Yoshi’s
Tue 7/01 – Oakland, CA – Yoshi’s at Jack’s London Square
Sat 7/26 – Buffalo, NY – The Tralf
Mon 7/28 – Amityville, NY – Revolution Bar & Music Hall
Saban Theatre links:
SabanTheatre.org
facebook.com/TheSabanTheatre
twitter.com/Saban_Theatre
instagram.com/SabanTheatre