The best Experience yet

A few months ago I got to once again attend the annual open house at PRS Guitars known as Expereince PRS. This was my 5th Experience event in a row and I must say, it was the best one yet. They have all been great for different reasons, and the highlights each year vary, but the common thread is that there are always great things at this event to experience and this year was loaded with them. Oh, and the weather? STELLAR. The nicest weather in 5 years. It was perfect. What else?

For starters, one of my guitar heros (and I don’t have many) and a man responsible for music that is part of the soundtrack to my life, Neal Schon was there. I got to see him up close in an interview done my Paul Reed Smith, and also got to hear him play in that same interview which was amazing. He also performed in the Friday night concert and I got to meet him and have him sign my PRS Guitars book.

I got to see TonyMcManus, Ricky Skaggs and Cody Kilby and they’re always great, but there was another acoustic guitarist there for the first time, who was incredible and super nice. Todd Bauchspies is his name and he is a fingerstyle player that does a lot of odd and low tunings that are just stunning to hear. I met him as well and bought a CD of his and have been wearing it out ever since and can’t wait for his new one to come out soon. I liked him so much I went back for a 2nd time to see his acoustic clinic.

Speaking of other first timers, local studio ace Brent Mason was there and was interviewed in the same kind of event that Neal Schon and John McLaughlin were and it was great to see and hear Brent play for the first time. He was amazing as well. Mark Tremonti was also there and I think this was his first time at an Experience PRS event since the very first one which I did not attend. Although incredibly loud and a bit heavier style wise on the metal than I care for, his new band was very good, which included Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. It was only their third gig together and they played Mark’s new solo album All I Was in its entirety.

Of course there were the guys that are always there like David Grissom, the PRS Band, Davy Knowles, Bernie Marsden and they were all great too. The artist lineup alone was enough to make this the best Experience event ever but there were all kinds of other seminars and events throughout the weekend and the Signature Club members got to have a wine reception and sneak peek at the guitars and amps for sale Thursday night before the concert started which was also a nice treat.

It will be hard for them to top this year in my opinion if they wind up doing the event next year. A lot of the success and existence of this event is dependent on sales of guitars and amps during the event. I sure hope it happens again because this is an annual highlight to my year and such a blast to attend. Until then, I will just have to enjoy all my videos and photos. If you want to see the photos of the weekend, go here to check them out and experience for yourself what I did during those three awesome days.