On October 19, 1991, in Seville, Spain, Steve Vai played his now-classic 1990 track, "For the Love of God," for the first time in front of a live audience.
You can check out the emotional performance, which took place as part of a music festival called ExpoSevilla 1992, above.
“The song is about how far people will go for the love of their god,” said Vai of the standout track from Passion and Warfare.
“When you discipline yourself to quit smoking, to run faster or to play better, you have to reach deep down into a part of you. That is a profoundly spiritual event. That’s when you come into contact with that little piece of God within you. That’s what I was trying to achieve with ‘For the Love of God’ – I was trying to find that spot.”
Compare the audience's tepid "Oh, OK, a new song" reaction at :18 to their boisterous applause at 7:59.
“Eddie told us that he copied that style from listening to us. He was a big fan of the band and came to see us play regularly.” Rick Derringer recalls a young Eddie Van Halen and performing with Johnny Winter
“They said, 'You've got to do it,' but I'm so glad they did. It became my biggest song.” The guitarist behind a power-pop gem almost let his hit single pass him by
