I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 18, 2024] Plini

Plini is Plini Roessler-Holgate, an Australian guitarist who has been recognized by all of the famous guitar gods [for instance: Steve Vai described him as “the future of exceptional guitar playing.”]

I wondered if he would play solo, but no, he had a four-piece band.  Jake Howsam Lowe played guitar with him.  And Jake was amazing as well.  He had some moments of speed and impressive dexterity–and I was glad that he was given his own spotlight in a song at the end.

I was really impressed by bassist Simon Grove.  He played a six string bass and at times played the same fast riffs as both guitarists.  He also had a few soloing moments and I loved seeing him play.

Finally, Chris Allison on drums was terrific.  And he inadvertently had one of the best moments of the night for me.  Someone in the audience held up a sign that said Mr Allison will you trade drum sticks with me  And Allison was totally game.  The fan passed their sticks through the audience (he or she was pretty far back and the sticks were crowd surfed) and Plini asked if the fan wanted the ones Allison had just played with or new ones.  And then said, oh give them both.  Then Plini asked how honest the Philly crowd was as they crowd surfed the sticks to the fan.  It was great.

Plini then said that instead of playing music for 30 minutes, they would just do a trade and swap for the next 30 minutes.

But indeed, they did play. 

It was an amazing display of skill and speed.   Instrumental guitar songs full of incredible fingerwork.  The impressive thing was how smooth and easily he played his blistering solos–as if his fingers were longer than anybody else’s.

He was also very funny.  Which was especially surprising considering how straight-faced he was while playing.  Although he did make lots of faces and jokes with his guitarist.  At the end of the set he said he would happily trade Jake for one dollar… a short auction and the fees went up to $5.  He said that Simon, the only bass player on the tour, was fantastic and that Chris Allison was the worst drummer on the tour.

The music was great.  The stage was nice for the opening act–a lit crescent moon behind him as he played.  A terrific set.  And Plini came back to play on Animals as Leaders’ encore.

ψ = single (2024)
≅ = Mirage (2023)
Δ = Impulse Voices (2020)
© = Handmade Cities (2016)
∞ = Other Things EP (2013)