Ronnie Montrose and Steve Morse jam for the first time on the Yardbirds’ “Shapes of Things”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 29, 1994

By Steve Newton

What do ’60s British rock pioneers the Yardbirds, ’70s fusion greats the Mahavishnu Orchestra, instrumental southern-rockers the Dixie Dregs, and cult guitar hero Ronnie Montrose have in common?

Not that much, really, but at the Commodore on Wednesday (September 21) the musical legacies of the first two bands converged with the here-and-now of the latter two in a spur-of-the-moment jam session that will go down in the Vancouver rock history books.

After his own band’s well-received opening set, Montrose joined Dregs string-bender Steve Morse onstage for a fiery guitar duel during a cover of the Yardbirds’ 1966 hit, “Shapes of Things”, with former Mahavishnu member Jerry Goodman wailing away on electric violin.

The impromptu meeting of the masters will no doubt leave a lasting impression on the 600 or so guitar freaks in attendance.

I especially liked the part where, after Montrose tore off some sweet licks with the use of a whammy-bar, Morse jokingly imitated him by employing an invisible whammy-bar on a solo of his own. (Check out the reaction from Montrose at the 3:47 mark.)

“This is my first time ever jamming with these guys,” an overjoyed Montrose told the wildly cheering crowd, “and it’s about time.”

To hear the full audio of my interviews with Ronnie Montrose and Steve Morse before the show subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with music legends since 1982.