Adam

I'm curious as to what everyone thinks of them.

To be honest I think that they look cheesy, unless of course you can play them like Virg - if that's the case they have yet to do anything other than blow my mind away.

Playing a gig like Virgil's gig in France made them kind of look odd...did he find much use for them I wonder? Or is it now a comfort thing to play behind the same thing every time.

mrnuclearpants

I like them. They're are HIS thing, you know? When someone sees sky toms they think 'Virgil Donati'. An important aspect about being a successful musician is being visually identifiable.

Take Steve Vai and his image and his stage presence. Everyone knows him for that as well as his guitar playing.

Terry Bozzio has that humungoid drumkit and thats what identifies him to many people too.

However I dont want to diminish the importance of the 'visual identities' of musicians either. Virgil uses his sky toms very creatively. Steve knows how to work the crowd. Terry obviously uses his kit to play melodically.

cjcdrums

Well, if anyone else tried the sky tom look now, I'd think it was a Virg rip-off. Plus, show me ANYONE who could use them better!

D. Slam

Virgil makes them work. He makes them fuctional for what he does. It's a cool visual thing when he uses them which seems to be mainly during his solos. I haven't noticed any practical use for them beyond that...

It's a Virgil thang that works very nicely when he applies it, and I love seeing him work those babies as only he can. It's something I see as exclusively Virgil and for anyone else to do this would just be anticlimactic for anyone who knows the real deal.

__________________
"Give The Drummer Some"

DavidPartay

When I saw Virgil in 2005 he played them just like a tom mounted in a normal position, which I think is the best thing about it. It does look awesome when he moves between the high and low toms at speed though

__________________
My Website

David Pardy on YouTube

Matthias

If any other drummer used sky toms it would be just ridiculous, or maybe a bad imitation of Virgil. But I like them with Virg, for the awesome visual speed-show-off-effect, and also integrated in his normal playing, like David mentioned it.

__________________
"After all these years of playing, I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface!" Virgil Donati

alencore

it's his idea and it's really cool to watch him plays them.
yet i have a feeling soon virg will find them really corny or unecessary and a waste of energy, may be soon.