February 24, 2018

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Guitar legend Joe "Satch" Satriani’s G3 tour roared into the Hard Rock Rocksino Thursday night for a night of shredding.  Satriani came up with the concept of having two other axe masters share the stage with him back in 1996; throughout the years he's had several great guitarists rotate in and out of the lineup.  This years edition of G3 features Phil Collen of Def Leppard along with John Petrucci from Dream Theater.

 

Collen was the first to hit the stage and showed off his nimble fretwork right away on “Quadrant 4.”  He then brought out his “other band,” Delta Deep, for some great rockin’ blues tunes.  Vocalist Debbie Blackwell-Cook showed off her powerful set of pipes on two original tunes, “Bless These Blues” and “Burnt Sally.”  The band hit their stride with a great rendition of Deep Purple’s “Mistreated.”  Their brief set ended with another powerhouse original “Down In The Delta.”

 

John Petrucci and his band were up next.  He thanked the audience for coming to the show and said, “I can’t tell you how much fun it is to play with Joe and Phil every night!”  You could tell he was clearly having fun on stage as he flawlessly tore through his set.  He primarily played songs off his latest album titled Suspended Animation including “Jaws Of Life” and “Damage Control.”  He did mention that the only way you could hear “The Happy Song” was by attending a G3 show because it isn’t on any album or download.  His six song set ended with “Glasgow Kiss.”

 

The headliner and creator of G3, Joe Satriani also has a new album to promote titled What Happens Next.  Wearing his traditional black t-shirt and dark sunglasses Satch tore into “Energy” and “Cabot” from that release.  It wasn’t until the third song where the familiar sounds of “Satch Boogie” got the air guitarists moving and playing in their seats.

 

Joe closed his set with two tunes from his groundbreaking album Surfin’ With The Alien.  He dedicated “Always With Me, Always With You” to all the fans for supporting him throughout his career and ended with the upbeat “Summer Song.”

 

However, this was not the end of the show.  No G3 concert is complete without a jam at the end featuring all three guitarists.   Phil Collen and John Petrucci made their way back to the stage with some new guitars to finish melting the faces that already hadn't been.

 

Petrucci came out armed with a jar of peanut butter and a jar of salsa and gave them to Satriani and Collen respectively.  Both guitarists had a laugh and instinctively used those props as slides; they messed around for a few minutes before launching into “Highway Star,” which saw each guitarist trade licks.

 

The shred-fest continued as the trio got a little funky with Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” as Debbie Blackwell-Cook kept up with the boys with her impressive vocals.

 

Concluding the concert with a song that, according to Satriani, started the first “jam” back in ‘96 was a cover of The Alabama State Trooper’s “I’m Going Down” which left all the guitar geeks in heaven.  

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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