A great show at the Cantab, as well as the most nerve wracking yet.

We got on stage during the break at the end of the open mike. Faro had done his soundcheck early, set list was settled, we were set to go — he tweaked the tuning on his brand spanking new Schecter 5-string…and broke a string.

Now, breaking a bass string isn’t exactly easy, and this was a brand new bass (less than two weeks old!), so we were a little surprised. No problem, though; he had more strings in his bag…

Except, of course, he was carrying a brand new bag, and neither he nor James Brown nor his papa had put the extra strings in it.

Ok…I admit it; I nearly lost my cookies. Not that we were dead in the water, because we’ve got a lot of guitar pieces and could have just done them. But because he is Faro, he retuned the damn bass up into a standard four string, ran through the set list in about two minutes, and figured out how to play the whole bass section of the set. Keep in mind that Faro’s style involves the use of a lot of tapping and harmonics (think Jaco, think Victor Wooten), so we’re not talking about something that’s just a matter of simple transposition. String tensions were significantly greater, and tapping became a much tougher effort.

The guy astounds me.

The set went great. We included a few pieces from the new CD — “Americanized,” “American History,” “Name,” and “Classic Rock” (easily the new crowd pleaser, and already one of my own favorites) as well as several of the old favorites. Crowd was enthusiastic and bought stuff — can’t ask for more than that.

By the time we reached the end of the set, Faro’s hands were a cramped mess. I have no idea how he managed a lot of the guitar pieces that we did in the closing section, but he did.

I cannot WAIT until we finally have the CD out and do the whole set as a single show.

Have I mentioned how lucky I feel to be working with this guy?

Thanks to everyone who came out. Next Show: the big CD release and full performance of “Americanized” at the Perishable Theater in Providence on October 6.