Sons of Apollo at the Gramercy Theatre

Jeff Scott Soto, Bumblefoot, Mike Portnoy, Billy Sheehan
& guest Tony MacAlpine

Since leaving Dream Theater in 2010, drummer Mike Portnoy has played in several supergroups. In 2012, Portnoy began jamming with his former bandmate, Derek Sherinian, who left Dream Theater in 1999, and bassist Billy Sheehan (Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big,} in an all-instrumental band called PSMS. The band was short-lived, but led to Portnoy and Sheehan playing together in the Winery Dogs later in 2012. By 2017, Portnoy and Sheehan reunited with Sherinian to form another band, Sons of Apollo, recruiting vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force, ex-Journey, Soto, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses, Metal Allegiance, Asia). Sons of Apollo's second studio album, MMXX, was released on January 17, 2020.

Sons of Apollo's concert at the Gramercy Theatre tonight was partly a homecoming, as Portnoy, Soto and Bumblefoot originally came from the tri-state area. From the start of the two-hour, 14-song performance, Bumblefoot came on stage with a double-necked guitar and Sheehan had a double-necked bass. Bumblefoot bent pitches on the fretless guitar on top and finger-tapped leads on the fretted neck below. Sheehan played his basses as if they were lead guitars, playing chords, picking with three fingers, tapping with both hands, and controlling his feedback. Similarly, Sherinian's leads on the keyboards also simulated guitar leads, with distortion, harmonics, and palm-muting. Portnoy's technical precision included triplets and other masterful techniques. While the band's complex music could be categorized as progressive metal, melodies were at the forefront, thanks in large part to Soto's soaring vocals. Musical talent of this magnitude is not often found on one stage at one time. In Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of music; the band Sons of Apollo may be the deity's offspring.

Setlist:

1. Goodbye Divinity
2. Fall to Ascend
3. Signs of the Time
4. Wither to Black (with a snippet of Rush's "Tom Sawyer")
5. Asphyxiation
6. Labyrinth
7. Untitled (bass solo by Billy Sheehan)
8. Lost in Oblivion
9. Desolate July
10. King of Delusion
11. Alive
12. New World Today
13. Figaro's Whore
14. Untitled (keyboard solo by Derek Sherinian)
15. God of the Sun

Encore:

1. Burn (Deep Purple cover, with Tony MacAlpine on guitar)
2. Coming Home