The annual G3 tour has become something of a pilgrimage for anyone that loves virtuoso rock guitar. The sixth annual tour was topped, as usual, by two living legends: Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. Again the third member of G3 is a lesser known guitarist, but not less talented, and this year it was John Petrucci of Dream Theater. The show was pure distilled essence of guitar, hardly any vocals or keyboards were in evidence but by God there was plenty of electric string bending going on!
The scene was the Wiltern Theater, perhaps my favorite venue for music in LA. A stately Art Deco masterpiece, with its large balcony it seats around 4000 people and there isn't a bad seat in the place. The large stage was without a fancy light show, relying solely on two long racks of lights, one hung at the rear of the stage and one across the front. What they saved on lights they put in the sound system. Big sound cabinets for the bottom end were stage left and stage right, while two tall columns of mid-range and horns were suspended above them.
Starting at 8:15 John Petrucci came onstage with the DT's great drummer, Mike Portnoy, and bassist David La Rue from the Dixie Dregs to round out a power trio for the opening act. And oh yes, John also brought with him a half hour worth of new songs written just for the tour. John showed off great chops throughout the set, mostly upbeat instrumentals, but perhaps the songs weren't quite finished cooking, because although they were technically perfect, they were mostly platforms for John to exercise his craft. Better was a slower tune he identified as Lost Without You where he played with a lot more emotion. Even so the band rocked the Wiltern crowd, and most of them were on their feet at the end of the set.
The drum kits and amps were all modularized so it wasn't too long before Steve Vai's band appeared, featuring and Billy Sheehan on bass, Mike Keneally and Dave Weiner on guitar. Keneally also handled the keyboards, the only ones onstage the whole night.
Before I left for the show I told a friend I was going to see Steve and he said, "Oh that wanker!" I can only reply that there must be a bit of a wanker in every showman, and he's a GREAT showman. From his flashy clothes - he came out first in a red bandana and sort of a long coat and then traded that in for a loud patterned shirt and tight pants for most of the show, but he also wore a broad brimmed black hat for one number -- to his wild-eyed faces as he plays, Steve always makes himself the center of attention. He doesn't really need to do all that though; his guitar work is more than enough to keep everyone amazed. Zappa always credited Vai for Stunt Guitar on his albums in the early 80s, and stunts it was.
Starting with his song "Shy Boy"(Can you say ironic? Sure you can), Steve was showing off every trick in the book, playing one-handed, over his head, even with his tongue! And looking like he was having great fun doing it too. Most songs again were straightforward instrumental rock that showcased more notes than a human being is supposed to be capable of. The man is incredibly fast and he makes it look easy. Other songs included "Giant Balls of Gold," "Incantation" and a slower tune, "Whispering a Prayer," where he showed off incredible sustain on the notes. His guitar even has a special hole cut in the body so he can hold it with one hand to pick up feedback from the amps. Steve's part of the show peaked out after an hour with a stunning version of "For The Love Of God."
Last, at about 11:15, came Joe Satriani, who was backed by Stu Hamme on bass and his long time drummer Jeff Campitelli. Contrasting Steve's grandstanding, Joe took a no frills approach, wearing just a simple T-shirt and letting his chrome bodied Ibanez guitar (and later a clear bodied one) do all the talking. Joe's capable of matching any of the fast runs that Steve uses (in fact long ago Steve was a student of his) but he's not afraid of slower, more emotional playing. "Satch" to his fans, he treated them to "Cool #9," "Flying in a Blue Dream," "Devil's Slide" and one from his new Live in San Francisco album, "Raspberry Jam Delta-V." My personal favorite was the soulful "Always With You, Always With Me" from his classic Surfing With The Alien album.
Satch also stayed onstage about hour, and then remained in place as he brought out Vai and Petrucci for "his favorite part of the show," the jam. Then he also brought out Billy Sheehan to do vocals. "But wait there's more!" and Joe produced special guests Steve Lukather from Toto (and more than a few sessions over the years) and a shirtless Paul Gilbert from Mr. Big in green-glitter pants, making it a total of five guitar masters, two bass players and a drummer on stage.
They launched into ZZ Top's "La Grange" and shook the place to the rafters, each taking solos. For some unexplained reason no pictures were allowed for the jam, but nobody told the performers. Vai took someone's snapshooter and the players happily mugged during their renditions of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" and they finished it up with Jeff Beck's "Going Down."
The crowd was wrung dry and didn't complain much when the lights came on at the end of "Going Down." They may to need to do some work on the old Wiltern after this one, too. I think I felt the plaster raining down from the ceiling. All told, this was a great show, the very height of guitar artistry in the rock music form.
