March 14th 2009 saw an historic Guitar Gods Behaving Badly staged at The Charles as Graham Greene, John Meyer and Jamie Page – three of the most influential WA guitarists in the last thirty years – joined forces to put on a show that will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed it. It was vintage West Coast Rock as Graham, John and Jamie led their respective bands through blistering sets of their own individual brands of guitar rock.

Graham opened proceedings and set the standard for the evening with instrumental tracks from his Leap Of Face and Club Voodoo albums before being joined onstage by Donna G. for the Resonance Project songs, “Behind The Dreamer’s Veil” and “Kings & Queens”, both meeting with rapturous response. Special guest Jac Dalton had flown in from Adelaide to be with the Guitar Gods, and treated the crowd to the debut live performance of “Suck, Bang & Blow”, a track co-written with the legendary Rob Riley for Jac’s forthcoming CD, and for this gig including Donna G. and Matt Williams on backing vocals. The song was a fitting and rousing finale to the opening set, and rocked the house.

John Meyer has played in some of the best rock and blues bands that this country has produced, and dipped into his back catalogue to produce a stunning set of material that included the hugely popular Saracen track “Three Years” – a crowd highlight. Time had done nothing to dim the genius of the master as he and his band led fans for a trip through the Meyer rock archives, dipping into fusion and country along the way. The set closed with an amazing version of the Hendrix classic “Voodoo Child”, sung in awesome style by bassist Peter Oats and lifting the room to the next level. But there was still more to come…

Jamie Page has been called the founding father of Perth metal, and has a pedigree and track record to earn the title many times over. The Jamie Page Band blistered through a set of Page gold – Trilogy’s “Hard Time” and “Hellhammer” by Black Steel – indispersed with classic metal hits from bands such as Dio and Iron Maiden. The mid-set Page solo track “SS Rejected” showed the Metal Guru’s softer side with his feel and melodic mastery taking centre stage. The GGBB crowd had seen a cross-section of some of the greatest rock to be written and performed in WA, and they were about to witness a truly unique musical treat to end their evening in the rock’n’roll stratosphere.

Donna and Graham took the stage and joined Jamie and band to revisit some Greene/Page history with the Black Sabbath classic, “Neon Knights”, with Donna and Matt sharing the vocals in an amazing metal duet backed by the twin guitar attack from hell. The players onstage were obviously having the time of their lives – a sentiment reflected on the reaction from the dance floor and throughout the room. There only remained the coup de grace. John Meyer was reintroduced to the stage, and the much-anticipated meeting of the masters materialized with an extended and mindblowing version of the perfect song for the occasion – Led Zeppelin’s Rock And Roll. In an unforgettable performance, Donna, Matt and Jac did themselves proud on vocals while the Three Kings – Meyer, Page and Greene – traded awe-inspiring solos and fills and shared with the crowd and each other the true spirit of music and mateship. As the house lights came up and the smoke cleared, there remained a sense that someting special had just happened… not only had WA music history been made, but an exciting glimpse of the future had been given by some world-class performers that weren’t done yet – not by a long shot.

:: This Event was a Global Thunda Network Artist Showcase.

The Graham Greene Band:
Graham Greene – Guitars, keyboards, vocals
Donna G. – Lead Vocals
Jim Awram – Bass
Tommy Ions – Drums

The John Meyer Band:
John Meyer – Guitars
Peter Oats – Bass, vocals
Ric Eastman – Drums

The Jamie Page Band:
Jamie Page – Guitars, vocals
Sandra Cee – Guitars, vocals
Matt Williams – Lead Vocals
Gareth Hughes – Bass
Damien Petrilli – Drums

Special Guest – Jac Dalton