Sons of Apollo at The Forge

The Forge Joliet IL Feb 18 2018
Review by Jake Warkel

Sons of Apollo is an American progressive metal supergroup formed in 2017 and composed of drummer Mike Portnoy, bassist Billy Sheehan, keyboardist Derek Sherinian, vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, and guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal.

Members:
Mike Portnoy – Drums, Vocals
 Derek Sherinian – Keyboards
 Billy Sheehan – Bass, Vocals
 Jeff Scott Soto – Lead Vocals
 Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal – Guitar, Vocals

Here on this Sunday night at this great venue called The Forge in Joliet IL just outside of Chicago SONS OF APOLLO, Mike Portnoy and Derek Sherinian join forces with guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (ex-Guns N’ Roses), bassist Billy Sheehan (The Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, David Lee Roth) and vocalist Jeff Scott Soto (ex-Journey, ex-Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force. The stage is set for this SuperGroup and the crowd is in rare form anticipating the charge of this powerhouse band loaded full of musical talent.

The first song of the night “God of the Sun” with appealing melodies, progressive Prog rock sound with a middle

eastern sound Ron Thal “Bumblefoot’s double neck guitar shredding was on fire “, with Jeff Scott Soto’s vocals coming across so perfectly well with this bigger than life song. The night was a mixture of their originals as well as covers from Dream Theatre, Van Halen and Queen with the Pink Panther theme song to top all cover songs. Billy Sheehan the most influential bassist of all time was showing off his double neck bass guitar with lightning speed finger picking as usual. Billy just plays like a little kid having fun on stage all the time, the man is addicted to playing music nonstop. Billy’s love for playing and creating music is amazing at his age it’s a man on a never ending mission. Derek Sherinian has for so many years kicked ass on keyboards and tonight was no acception. He has distinguished himself by his aggressive “guitaristic” keyboard style which was phenomenal tonight. Derek’s keyboard playing makes this band better. They all compliment each other musically very well which is why they work and sound so well together.

The most amusing and entertaining part was when the fans were treated to the Pink Panther theme song which was done so well. Most fans that night probably never thought they would be hearing that at a Rock show. I was glad to see Mike Portney having fun all night behind the drums, if there’s one thing he needs practice at it’s catching his drumsticks for whatever reason he was having trouble almost every time he went to throw his drumstick up to catch them, way off Mike on catching but right on on the drums as usual. Mike Portney hands down is one of the greatest drummers of all time always makes drumming look so easy. When the band came back for the Encore Jeff Scott Soto ended up at the back of the bar doing shots with fans while the band took the stage playing Van Halen’s And the Cradle Will Rock, when it was time to sing Jeff Scott Soto knocked it out of the park walking threw the crowd singing as he was making it back to the stage sounding better than Dave ever had which for Jeff I assume is like taking a break on his voice. Jeff Scott Soto’s vocals all night were powerful and melodic, the range he has and the command on his voice is still outstanding. Musically I’ve heard hundreds of bands jam out this Van Halen tune and by far Ron Thal “Bumblefoot” on Guitar is the only one in my opinion that actually sounded like Eddie Van Halen, if you closed your eyes you actually would have thought Eddie Van Halen was playing on guitar, many try but can’t succeed not even a lot of the Van Halen cover bands. I love Ron Thal’s guitar playing he’s so technically skilled with techniques far beyond most players out there today. Ron Thal “Bumblefoot “ I still believe till this day is an extremely underrated guitarist I hate saying that but it’s true. He’s a great songwriter and vocalist also, if you haven’t looked into Ron Thal’s other bands or solo projects through his career I would strongly suggest to do so it won’t disappoint.

The band sounded great they killed it and with all that talent you would expect that but at the end of the day you only sound that good together when you gel and have great charisma. Not all great players can get together and make it work but as for these 5 gentleman it works and I hope they do continue on down the road and create even better material. The good news is Mike Portney announced they will be back in Chicagoland area at Arcada Theatre May 12th 2018 in St Charles Il , So for those that couldn’t make it out tonight on this Sunday they are back in town on a Saturday night so no excuses folks.

I strongly recommend getting off your ass and going to a Sons of Apollo show when they are at a city in or around

you as well as picking up their album “Psychotic Symphony” SONS OF APOLLO’s debut album, “Psychotic Symphony”, was released October 20 by InsideOut Music. It sold around 5,200 copies in the United States in its first week of release, it has earned the band the top position on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, which focuses on top-selling albums by new or developing acts, defined as those who have never appeared on the top 100 of the Billboard 200.

“Psychotic Symphony”
 Available as: Ltd. Edition 2 CD Media Book (incl. bonus disc with instrumental mixes of the album), Standard CD Jewel Case, 180g Gatefold 2 LP Edition with etching on side 4 (incl. the album on CD) and as Digital Download

Setlist Sons of Apollo
1)God of the Sun 
 2)Signs of the Time 
 3)Figaro’s Whore 
 4)Divine Addiction 
 5)Just Let Me Breathe 
 (Dream Theater cover) 
 6)Labyrinth 
 7)Bass Solo 
 (Billy Sheehan) 
 8)Lost in Oblivion 
 9)The Prophet’s Song / Save Me 
 (Queen cover) 
 10)Alive 
 11)The Pink Panther Theme 
 (Henry Mancini cover) 
 12)Opus Maximus 
 13)Keyboard Solo 
 (Derek Sherinian) 
 14)Lines in the sand
 (Dream Theatre cover)
 Encore:
 15)And the Cradle Will Rock… 
 (Van Halen cover) 
 16)Coming Home 
 (followed by band introductions) 
 17)Happy Trails 
 (Roy Rogers song)

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