John 5 and Living Colour wowed the NAMM crowd with guitar wizardry at The Observatory Santa Ana.
On January 23rd, the 5th Annual J5 NAMM Jam, an annual concert put on by guitar hero John 5 during the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show, absolutely rocked the roof off the Observatory in Santa Ana, CA. This year’s lineup featured not only John 5 himself, performing a solo set of his impressive hard rock guitar material, but also an exciting headlining set by New York City Rock and Roll Legends Living Colour. The amazing wizardry of guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour being well know, this concert offered an amazing opportunity to see not only one but two incredible guitar players up close and personal in the intimate 1000 person venue. The eager crowd coming off a day-long music convention still packed the Orange County venue selling out this show, and head banging throughout the night. All of the die hard music fans in attendance, probably mostly musicians themselves were in for a treat.
John 5 is of course a famous guitar hero and entertainment impresario in his own right, having played, recorded, and toured the world with legendary artists like David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and now as the touring guitarist of Mötley Crüe. His guitar playing is phenomenal to say the least, and inspiring to watch, with shredding, finger picking, heavy riffing, tapping, and many more techniques on display throughout his diverse music. Not just content to play heavy metal riffs and shred, his music also ventures into other genres like country/western and he plays mandolin, banjo and other instruments along with rocking his signature telecaster guitar. Watching John 5’s hands fly across the strings of his instrument at this show, picking furiously, he somehow plays lead, rhythm, and also bass lines from songs all at the same time. He shredded his guitar, spun across the small stage, and engaged the enthralled crowd all without using a vocalist or lyrics, it was just one guitar and one drummer on stage for his show.
You can tell John 5 is a master musician, but clearly one that has also learned from some of his famous associates the value of the visual aspect of performance. Giant LED screens flanked the small stage at this show playing old monster movie clips and John 5 music videos, the spooky lighting was on point, with John 5 even utilizing an intensely bright light up guitar at one point in the show, and also bringing out a large headed mascot version of himself to dance onstage. He throws tons of themed guitar picks out to his fans, and dons multiple masks and fun disguises throughout the show. John 5’s new drummer for this concert was also absolutely insane and fun to watch . Sticking out his tongue like a Māori warrior, and banging the drums like a madman, this talented player named Joey Aguirre, was somehow able to match John 5’s insane manic onstage energy. The two men played a fantastic set of material from throughout John 5’s career and also included samples of famous songs he’s played on. Song’s like “First Victim,” “The Ghost,” “Que Pasa,” “Black Grass Plague,” and “Moon Glow” from John 5 and The Creatures were standouts along with an ending “Motley Medley” listed on the setlist.
Living Colour came on stage blazing after John 5 had really warmed up the crowd, and performed their own fantastic set of live music. This legendary New York band has been playing together for over forty years blending hard rock, funk, jazz, and metal genres into a one of a kind unique sound. The band’s members are all insanely talented musicians and rocked the stage of this intimate and fantastic sounding Orange County venue. Vernon Reid was electric on his custom guitar, shredding solos and leads, vocalist Corey Glover was powerful and engaging as he commanded the stage, bassist Doug Wimbush was absolutely phenomenal laying down the low end and was one of the most fun members to watch, and drummer Will Calhoun is an absolute legend, he killed it at this show absolutely pounding his cymbals high up over his beautiful Gretsch drum kit. Living Colour was so much fun to watch and they had their own die hard fans in the audience that moved up front for their set and made it a blast. This whole show was so much fun and a wonderful addition to the NAMM Show again this year.
