Guitar Center Drum Off 2010

[Isaac Lee]

I had opportunity to see the entire show which lasted from about 8-12 this evening. There was so many great performances. But I had to tell you guys about how sweet the Simon Phillips/Gavin set was. They were just incredible! Simon's bass drum sound was INSANE live. It hit so hard and and had the most wonderful tone I've ever heard out of a bass drum live. Gavin's SQ2's sounded amazing as well. Both of them were technically incredible. There was a section however where Simon held down a nice groove and Gavin blew us all away with some real heavy groove displacement along with some mind bending fills.

Steve Smith was great as always. He brought up a bunch of different folks including Jojo Mayer. But my favorite guest was Jeff Hamilton. They did their brush duet and it was so tasteful and technically scary. They also did Salt Peanuts which the crowd enjoyed a lot!

As for the actual drum off contestants I was left impressed but at the same time a bit disappointed. Lots of gospel chops this year again. A general lack of interesting phrasing over all. The tricks and showmanship was great across the board. The guy that won, Isaiahs, had some awesome fresh motions/tricks mixed into his act and I thought he sounded great.

I was pretty happy to get into the VIP section from the very start and got to see lots of big name drummers. There were way to many to start name dropping but suffice to say that you guys have heard of them all and it was really cool to be around them. Don't forget, I'm from Montana and haven't had these opportunities before.

Look for the DVD when its released. You guys will def. want to pick that up!!!!

[Rafael Dolinski]

[robhaerr]

I can't believe there are no clips of Gavin and Simon's duet on teh YouTubes yet!

[Dave Elitch]

Hey guys!

I was judging at the drum off the other night and was totally blown away by Gavin and Simon's duet. They complemented each other perfectly both tonally and in their playing. I'm looking forward to seeing it once the dvd comes out. I'd love to go to Gavin's clinic on Tues night, but I've got NAMM stuff to take care of. If you're in LA, I strongly suggest going!

Dave

[Phil T.]

Gavin mentioned on his FB page that the duet was filmed and will probably turn up on YouTube eventually. I don't usually pay attention to these - does GC release DVDs of the performances? I'd be interested to pick one up based on the descriptions. Gavin and Simon for sure but the Steve Smith / Jeff Hamilton brush duet sounds great, too. I could do without the actual contestants....

[Kurtis]

this is the kid that won. the stuff going on at 2:40 was pretty cool.

[deseipel]

that was pretty entertaining. I don't think I've ever seen a video with that many gimmicks all in one place.

What's with the LA t-shirts?

[Andrew<3'sVinnie]

Welcome to the forum Dave!

[Lucas Ives]

this is the kid that won. the stuff going on at 2:40 was pretty cool.

that was kind of all over the place for me.

[YamahaPlayer]

Entertaining for sure, lots of stick tricks.

I agree with the most gimmicks in one place, but hey props to the kid for getting there and throwing down.