The show started with Yamaha man Tony Cox giving a brief introduction to the new kit and Hex rack before introducing the man himself.

Dave started by using his hands and fingers on the drums before moving on to hot rods. The new PHX drums sounded very musical. When he moved on to sticks you could really hear and feel the thunderous bottom end. I have always liked the sound of Yamaha drums and these are no exception. The sound is very rich and it really does have a lot of top end crack as well massive amounts of bottom end. The drums look pretty special too. Very nice wood finishes and the typical high end Yamaha build quality.

Dave talked about how much he liked the sound of the PHX and mentioned he has been comparing kits in the studio and the PHX waveforms were actually much bigger with more top and bottom and you could physically see the difference as well as hear it.

Dave Weckl (copyright Paul Tsanos 2008)

Dave Weckl (copyright Paul Tsanos 2008)

As well as talking about the new kit, rack system and his Sabian Legacy cymbals he offered some great advice on general playing attitudes, practising, dynamics, polyrhythm and lessons with Freddie Gruber. He also made a point of stressing music is a subjective art form not a sport and technique for techniques sake is pointless.

The clinic lasted about 3 hours with solos, play-along tracks, advice, Q & A and finishing off with another blistering solo and then a raffle. No Yamaha products in the raffle though.

Overall it was a very enjoyable and educational night. Big thumbs up all round and well done to Manchester Drum Centre for getting another world class drummer to the North West. Looking forward to the next one.