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Extreme
Extreme
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Extreme

Appearing in: houston, dallas-fort-worth, el-paso-new-mexico, boston, detroit, cincinnati, cleveland

Extreme formed in Boston in 1985 and built their sound around the guitar work of Nuno Bettencourt, who combined Eddie Van Halen-influenced technical prowess with a funk-infused rhythm playing style that made him immediately distinctive among the hard rock guitarists of his era. Vocalist Gary Cherone's range and the band's musicianship gave their albums Extreme (1989) and Pornograffitti (1990) a sophistication that set them apart from the image-focused glam metal bands they were lumped with commercially. "More Than Words," the stripped-back acoustic ballad from Pornograffitti, reached number one in multiple countries in 1991 and remains the song most people associate with the band's name.

After Cherone briefly joined Van Halen in the late 1990s and the band went on a long hiatus, Extreme's 2023 reunion album Six was greeted with genuine enthusiasm from rock audiences who had been waiting for it, demonstrating that both Bettencourt's guitar playing and the band's collaborative chemistry had survived the intervening years intact. Their return to active touring has brought them back to audiences who remember "More Than Words" and to newer rock fans discovering Bettencourt's playing for the first time, both of whom find the live experience compelling for reasons that are entirely about the musicianship on stage.

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