Last night, Joe Satriani was on fire. He was using a pair of JSX Peavey amps and JS Ibanez guitars. Matt Bissonette was on bass again. Jeff Campitelli played drums and I think the tour manager, Galen Henson played some rhythm.
Joe went through song after song and his tone was beyond amazing and consistent. It was a monster show because this wasn’t G3. It was pure JS. “ I Like The Rain” was the highlight for me. I would highly recommend this track from “Is There Love In Space” for Roth and classic Van Halen fans.
Joe’s technique was to keep the guitar very close to his body and he is very articulate with his phrasing. This is something that is so hard to pull off live. JS was dead on. He played the classic “Sleep Walk” much like a Motown group and he looked like he wanted to tell a joke all night. “Psycho Monkey” was a lot of fun too.
One thing I should mention was the fact that a lot guys were hoping to get to see Stu and not Matt. I explained that Matt was a solid pocket bass man. Matt Didn’t play 70 notes to hear himself play or as Stu does, because you can. Matt was solid and incredibly locked in with Jeff. When a pocket is that tight, I don’t miss the improvisation Stu plays. I think the pocket focus allowed Joe to expand a little more.
Joe Satriani was exactly what you would expect from a guitar legend. He took the crowd through a full range of emotion, but the entire mood and feeling was up. Way up. There wasn’t face in the crowd that didn’t have a smile. There wasn’t any reference to politics, war, or death. JS was refreshing and great therapy if you look for that from a guitar hero. No flash, no effects. Just guitar shred and one tight unit behind a great Joe Satriani.