This very recent live release is quite the pleasant surprise! Ms. Orianthi is well known in guitar circles for her blend of electric blues, straight forward rock and roll, and an affinity for the melodic. She performs at many guitar festivals and has not one, but two signature guitars: An electric PRS Custom 24 (multiple variants) and an acoustic Gibson SJ-200 model. Live From Hollywood is a solid collection of tunes that span her 2009 Believe album up to and including the 2020 release, O. Clocking in at around fifty minutes this is not the entire show, but what is presented here is extremely high quality and also an authentically portrayed live performance. You can hear feedback squeals from guitars and microphones, there are no overdubs, nor are there any piped in backing tracks. About the only thing that kinda jolts you outta the moment is the fact that there are a few fade outs between songs to transition the cuts.

Since this concert covers Ms. Ori's career, we have a few songs from each album. Whichever era she draws from, her guitar playing is varied and impressive as hell. She plays her signature licks in verses and has glorious bendings going on yet she also segues into classic shred guitar runs and flashy licks seamlessly before transitioning back to blues land. Also, she alternates between fingerpicking and using the pick to shred as seen on the extended jam version of How Do You Sleep? (not the John Lennon song). A big show highlight is definitely You Don't Wanna Know when Ori brings out her homie Carmen to do a guitar duet. Carmen plays a Telecaster and she is the perfect complement in terms of tone to Orianthi's double bucker PRS. The vocals on this album are extremely well done and just like with her guitar playing, varied. The more upbeat commercial songs from the Believe album are offset by the raunchy and husky rock anthems like Heaven In This Hell and Sinner's Hymn. Orianthi's voice also never wavers or deteriorates as the show goes on which is quite admirable. There are a few live backing vocals performed by her band mates but they are low in the mix.

Live From Hollywood is such a surprise that this review runs the risk of being a track by track. Think of this almost as a companion piece to the Kotzen / Smith release. Super bluesy based rock, performed with much gusto and chutzpah, soaring yet homely vocals, and lots and lots of bending and wailing on guitars, and oh yea lots and lots of strong ass songs. I really like the atmosphere here and only wish there weren't songs that got truncated from the final product. And also I hate fade outs with a passion on live albums. There's a Blu Ray of the show that I recommend checking out as well. It's refreshing to see a stripped down show with musicians that are hitting home runs every single song. Live From Hollywood has got me going on a discography dive now on Spotify and I'm stoked for the new release by Orianthi which I believe is recorded and in the can right now.