One of the true modern day Rock Gods, guitarist Richie Kotzen played an early 5 pm show at the Arcada Theatre kicking off with a VIP enhanced sound check, meet and greet and first offerings at the merchandise booth. There were certain ground rules during sound check that included no recording or photos. An exceptional experience for all in attendance with Richie who was very personable and accommodating with the fans.
Kicking off the show, Kotzen took the stage with 'Bad Situation' off his 24 Hours LP strapped with his Telecasterguitar in hand. His no guitar pick finger style was magic to behold. Richie then proceeded to just astound with many more of his solo numbers such as; 'Your Entertainer' from his Peace Sign LP, 'Love Is Blind' another from 24 Hours album, 'Dogs', Devil's Hand', 'As You Are', 'Stick The Knife' all off the latest 50 For 50 LP. Continuing on with tracks from Essential Richie Kotzen 'War Paint' was just another incredible tune he performed throughout the evening.
Richie featured a couple of beautiful Fender Stratocasters guitars and with his ability to vocally harmonize with his unique style, gave the fans some serious lead guitar. His styles crosses over from raw blues to heavy rock with a touch of Motown vocals which carried a path between Americana and Heavy Metal. Performing only his solo material, tonight Richie put on an Arena Rock feel performance in a smaller comfortable venue.
He closed out the evening with 'Go Faster' off the Go Faster LP and finally 'You Can't Save Me' off the Into The Black album. You can tell the crowd on hand were longtime fans of every band he's been a part of and left completely fulfilled. This was one of the best over all fan friendly music events I've been a part of in many years. Big credit to Richie's tour manager for his outstanding hospitality and gracious handling of the diehard fans on hand. Richie also has a fairly recent project with Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden titled Smith/Kotzen that was released in 2021.
Get out and see this tour, if you love guitar this is exceptional!