Buckethead Flashbacks – European Tour 1998
Good evening everybody, in today's flashback we're going back to 1998, to take a rare glimpse of guitar hero Buckethead on non-American soil, touring Europe with his Giant Robot band to promote his now classic album 'Colma'. So, let's begin. Woo!!
After touring with his original Giant Robot band in 1996, Buckethead returned a year later with an all new line-up to form Giant Robot 2, consisting of DJ Disk on turntables, Bass player Louie, and ex-Deli Creeps drummer Pinchface.
Coinciding with the release of 'Colma' , the European shows were each around 30 minutes long, covering acoustic, bass and of course some shred.
(Giant Robot II - Madrid Spain, April 28th 1998, Galileo Galilei)
The band first performed in Madrid Spain on April 28th 1998, playing among others, glorious renditions of 'Big Sur Moon' and 'Ghost'.
(Giant Robot II – Berlin, Germany – April 29th 1998, The Loft)
The following day the band flew to Germany to perform at the Loft in Berlin, but not before giving a rather hilarious interview with German radio.
(Giant Robot II – Brussels, Belgium – April 30th 1998, Ancienne Belique)
After their well received show in Germany the band flew to Brussels in Belgium to not only perform but also to enjoy the sites, annoy the neighbors and have a tea party. Glorious.
(Giant Robot II – London, UK – May 5th 1998, Virgin Offices)
I week later the band arrived in London UK to perform at a Virgin record store. Unfortunately there's seemingly no footage of the show, only audio. Although they did perform at another Virgin record store one month prior in San Francisco, so the look and layout of the show was probably identical.
There is however footage of Buckethead hanging out in London, dancing in a bar among some drunks and even doing an impromptu street dance. Fantastic.
Buckethead's short European tour in 1998 would the first and only time he'd ever perform in Spain & Germany.
And he would return to Europe for the final time in 2004 for a guest appearance for the Bill Laswell fronted band 'Material'. So it's fair to say that a European tour is long overdue.