Buckethead may not be a household name.  But if you are a music fan, especially if you are into guitar players, you damn well know who Buckethead is.   This legendary guitar wizard who wears a KFC bucket on his head along with a white facemask has been melting faces at venues across the USA on his summer tour which made a stop in Los Angeles at The Wiltern Theater on Friday night June 14.

With no opening act, Buckethead who elevated his popularity playing with Guns N Roses from 200-2004 took the stage about 8:45pm opening the night with “Big Sur Moon” and proceeded to dazzle the capacity crowd for the next two-hours with his eccentric and totally innovative guitar playing. Buckethead started playing to a backing track then his band consisting of a bass player, drummer and occasional vocalist joined him onstage.

Buckethead's use of the Killswitch is mind-blowing as he wails on his custom white Gibson six-string. His hands are extremely large which obviously adds to his incredible playing style. The band ran through many Buckethead songs to be expected to hear live such as “Soothsayer” and “Gory Head Stump 2006: The Pageant of the Slunks” and they mixed in several covers such as “War Pigs” (Black Sabbath), “I Want it That Way” (Backstreet Boys) and “The Zoo” (Scorpions) . . . all played with such killer tone and style that had the crowd totally mesmerized.

Buckethead also does some unusual things onstage like doing a robot dance while playing with one hand and about ¾ through the show he put down his guitar and grabbed a sack of toys and handed them out to the crowd like Santa Claus. The band ended the night with the instrumental “Jordan” and at the end of the song Buckethead gave a little wave goodbye and left the stage. He never spoke, never lifted his mask, he just played guitar like nobody else can – an AMAZING night of music at The Wiltern.