Masayoshi Takanaka @ Hollywood Palladium 2026-04-12 ("review" & raw wav)

LIMITED TIME / LAST TIME 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/hAQJhqaz

I only rarely do this but people mainly come here for the recordings, not the reviews. I just have so much to work with right now but more interested in listening to anniversary selections, watching my fave YouTubers and now have Coachella to catch up with. My positioning was only marginal and at some point the mics slipped into the holes and I just had to take the hat off and reinsert them so there might be some abrasive noise. Just looking at the wav is giving me a headache. Might have slightly bumped levels down when lights went off because just the crowd was pushing it into the red As for the recording, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. 

The NY show was on archive the next day if you want one with track splits. Nothing on Dime though. Maybe one of you can take care of that. Also some complete shows on YouTube. I am pretty sure there was no additional encore and got out of there pretty quickly but I was up Argyle on the edge of the lot and could still hear the crowd inside. 

+ + + + +


How is a 74 year old jazz fusion guitarist from Japan so popular?

This show, as all his 2026 events in the western world was crazy sold out with resale prices in the stratosphere.

I was pretty tired from 2 shows the day before and not too invested but already out (Chris D's Poison Fang matinee at Zebulon) but decided to swing by anyway. So much for keeping it limited to 2-3 a week. With only $60 in my pocket, which was probably less than face, which I really had no idea what that was.

Remember when rolling up to a sold out show there would be loads of people in the parking lot without tickets trying to get in? Even though Reddit was flooded with the hopeful ticketless begging to be scammed, I never saw anyone else working the line.

The line went up Gower, down Selma, across the street and back down Selma the other way and down that little side street. In 35 years never seen a line so line and the employee managing it said he got there at 4:45 it was already around the block.

Anyway found one pretty quick, my generous benefactor said his friend couldn't make it. "It happens. It's why I am here." He just gave it to me.

The show itself was pretty good. In addition to an excellent guitarist, Takanaka is a showman too which separates him from what's usually a pretty staid genre that concentrates solely on stellar musicianship. For the encore he brought out the surfboard guitar! And kids were crowdsurfing! Some complaints of injuries have been popping up on Reddit, and not by the crowdsurfers but the people who don't go to punk and metal shows and weren't expecting to get kicked in the head from behind.

The crowd however, was almost all teens and twenties. Are these kids going to start showing up to see Pat Metheny and Larry Carlton now? Should Lee Ritenour start wearing a red suit and playing a custom gimmick guitar?

Anyway, great and fun show, glad I went and it ended at 9:55 and I was lucky to be home a little after 11 which is very rare when a transfer is involved (no direct route from Hollywood to home).

Also check out Chris D's Poison Fang and Witch Crimes who I saw earlier in the day. Chris D said it was going to be his last show ever because he is sick of it.

https://youtu.be/kIH5TWZ_BTA?si=O-aX-9ZxJAuAfpvZ