Article: A Night with Marty Friedman 9/10/15

12 years… yes, that is how long it took for guitar maestro Marty Friedman to return to New York City. Its funny because I was only 16 and was remotely involved in the Rock & Roll community when he appeared. Go figure, he appears in my home, the Gramercy Theatre with my good San Francisco thrash family of Exmortus. Today was a very different type of event for several reasons. For starters, even though I was working with skullsnbones primarily, I was also working with a video crew for shooting live video of a brand new Exmortus song, which was going to be recorded during their set. On top of this, Revolver Magazine requested my cameraman assistance for a Marty Friedman interview, but that would fall flat at the end of the night due to scheduling conflicts.

The event was fantastic. I am a huge Exmortus fan. With this being 100% true, the interview I did with skullsnbones AND the music video footage came out fantastic. Not to mention the photos (which you can see below). Marty Friedman couldn’t be easier to shoot. The man is dynamic with his band. The entire show filled an energy you can’t replicate from instrumental artists. There is pure fun, and joy coming out from the band members through and through. It wasn’t so much awe-inspiring to me, but what really stuck out was the fact that the show felt FUN to be at. Screaming, cheers, chants and just pure joy were prevalent all night long.

Exmortus Photo Gallery:

Exmortus Set-list:

1. Immortality Made Flesh
2. Slave to the Sword
3. Moonlight
4. Relentless (New Song)
5. Metal Is King

Marty Friedman Photo Gallery:

Marty Friedman Set-list:

• 1. Hyper Doom
  2. Amagigoe
  3. Street Demon
     (“Holy Wars…The Punishment… more )
  4. Elixir
  5. Stigmata Addiction
  6. Devil Take Tomorrow
  7. Tibet
  8. Angel
  9. Bass Solo
     (“Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder snippet)
  10. Asche zu Asche / Forbidden City / Tornado of Souls
  11. Ripped
  12. Guitar Solo
  13. Inferno
  14. Undertow
  15. Dragon Mistress
      (with fan on guitar)
  16. Thunder March
  17. Ballad of the Barbie Bandits

      Encore:

• 18. Kaeritakunattayo
      (ikimonogakari cover)

Catch you rockers on the flip side!

–Derek–