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The Paul and Steve Show at NAMM 2026
The yearly Namm Show in Anaheim, CA ends today. As usual, the show is a place where both professional musicians and regular folks roam around the show floor looking for the latest in musical tools. This always generates interesting YouTube videos from demos and impromptu small concerts in exbitor booths.
Paul Gilbert and Steve Morse did a demo in the Ernie Ball booth that was captured by a visitor. The full thing can be seen here:
If you prefer shorter clips, here is their performance of Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues:
They also played Aerosmith’s “Last Child”:
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Paul Gilbert is quirky – there is a bit of Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) in him which is refreshing. You can be a nerd and still play great guitar.
Whenever he and Steve play together (as they have done before), Steve’s ultra-processed sound comes out sounding a little muffled compared to Paul’s more direct and cutting sonics from his reverse Ibanez Iceman or whatever it is.
And finally, Steve is a guitar god, but – and I’m sure he would agree – the Blues as an art form is relatively alien to him. Now Paul likely wasn’t born blind and playing in the Mississippi mud either, but his wild exuberance and tendency to overplay (you hear the frantic Johnny Winter influence) lend more expression to a Blues number than Steve’s very controlled good taste does.
But Steve comes into his own on the Aerosmith number where he really nails that rhythmic riff. He’s great at stuff like that while Paul is peeing a bit all over the rug on that particular song. And when he takes over the riff, it has none of the funk and vibe it has when Steve plays it.
January 25th, 2026 at 01:19The Gary Moore “Still got the Blues” reminded me of my wish when Simon first joined the band. My knowledge was Simon is a Gary Moore’s ‘disciple’, so I assume he would bring a lot of blues influences to Purple.
Which will be great as the continuation of Purple ‘tradition’ where every Mark of the band brought something new and fresh (and to some extent, surprising) like Come Taste the Band, Purpendicular, Burn, Bananas, Slaves and Masters, and of course In Rock. Unfortunately, I didn’t get something really new or surprising in =1, which to me just a Mark 8 album with European guitarist.
As for the video above, I think both speakers and the sounds they produced spoke themselves. Paul is an alpha, the busiest, the expressive one, while Steve was the background, the coolest, only come out when it’s the time.
Also Steve to me play blues like he preferred to do it, not like traditional blues-based guitarist we heard. Some performances where he crossed into blues territory like when playing When a Blind Man Cries and Haunted (Haunted maybe not a blues track, but still his playing was beautiful, and it’s my favorite Gillan’s vocal performance).
However at some points in this When a Blind Man Cries performance, you could suggest he should have just kept bending one or two notes longer instead of playing multiple notes at that passage. A proof he’s not a blues guitarist at heart.
When A Blind Man Cries (Live in Perihelion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElZmD78VD7g
Haunted (TV live, Sao Paulo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVG8lguytlk
Or with Paul Gilbert covering “Little Wing” in the same event some years before
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Gx4XZRgg8EY
And as far as the guitar-gasm concerned, Paul Gilbert closely nailed Gary Moore’s one (to me Gary Moore has the best guitargasm face expression ever lol, go check it out).
January 25th, 2026 at 04:53Yes, Paul Gilbert is an amazing guitarist!
Uwe….! 😁
I will give a brilliant example:
https://youtu.be/yetBsgViVvM?si=rwPCejmnXQ6V5oJR
And the guy can also sing, Uwe….! 😆
I know you don’t appreciate Mr Big, you want the English band of the same name, and that is fine, just fine, so I guess you have matured more than I ever have imagined would be possible 😃 ……Uwe…!
January 25th, 2026 at 10:06More videos of the same performance at https://www.stevemorse.net/2026/01/24/steve-paul-gilbert-at-ernie-ball-booth-namm-2026/
January 25th, 2026 at 10:37#1 Uwe:
I basically agree.
January 25th, 2026 at 14:19And the surprising thing is to see two guitarists who are technically better than Gary Moore playing his song worse than him.
this thing always amazes me.
a fine guitarist is Paul Gilbert, however I find myself looking elsewhere as most of what I have ever heard, song wise etc, leaves me cold. Steve in these videos is not really there in many aspects. He enjoys it though, good to see him out and about. As to Gilbert’s facial expression, yes I have to admit to placing him in the Gary Moore and Robin Trower facial recognition list. Actually Gilbert in this video is probably more full on, come to think of it. Cheers.
January 25th, 2026 at 21:28Hello.
I don´t – I must finally admit – like Steve´s (exactly just like Uwe wrote) ultra-processed sound. No. No. No.
And like the gentleman (hats off) from Down Under hilariously describes, there´s indeed something happening on some guitarists´ faces. At least when it´s time for a solo or two.
I´ve learned years ago that Mr. Gilbert has an annoying tinnitus and I believe that without that his facial appearance while performing would be very different. Just guessing, though.
But isn´t this fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SOa3IeoxVo&list=RD8SOa3IeoxVo&start_radio=1
Kippis. Where´s my cup of coffee ?
January 26th, 2026 at 17:02Hiza, that “Mr Big-swaps-instruments”-rendition of SOTW is indeed cute!
First time I hear Billy sing lead and I have heard a lot worse from others.
And Paul Gilbert’s drumming is just as ADHD as his guitar playing! 😂
January 27th, 2026 at 03:15@8
Now, what’s wrong being ADHD?
Some of the greatest minds in the world have a bit of that 😊
January 27th, 2026 at 11:21Nothing wrong with ADHD, it’s hardly a rarity among many artists. I was just observing how it colors his playing, but I wouldn’t want to hear Paul Gilbert on Ritalin.
January 27th, 2026 at 21:31