This was the first concert I've ever really been to, which isn't surprising once you know I live in Wasilla, Alaska (the middle of nowhere). I only recently got into this music at the recommendation of all my friends at guitarwar.com, and own only 2 Satch albums, 1 Vai, and 1 Dream Theater. For background info, I'm 18 and have been playing the guitar for 2 years. I recently performed Satriani's song "Always With Me, Always With You" at a school concert to tremendous applause, and being able to see the man live in concert was unreal.

I loved the show. A few things annoyed me, however, which I'll go through first. First of all, Vai's bassist had the shittiest tone I've ever heared. Something had to be messed up with his amp, but he didn't seem to notice - or at least he didn't show it if something was wrong. He seemed to be technically impressive, but I cringed every time he went into a solo. This problem did not plague anyone else fortunately, and it is my biggest complaint. On a side note, Dave LaRue was my favorite bassist. He had awesome tone and great technique.

Secondly, the dinner seating at this theater is convenient and in their configuration they can pack a lot of people very close to the stage, but the view sucked unless you had a bunch of short people in front of you. I had to maneuver myself for a while before I got a good view of the stage. Its a good thing they had two large projectors overhead for those less fortunate than I.

Third, I was a little disappointed with the jam at the end. I would have much preferred that they play YYZ or La Villa Strangiato by Rush, like I suggested! =) Petrucci is a big Rush fan. Oh well... I guess ZZ Top is alright, but everyone covers La Grange (I actually really liked the jam, I'm just bein an ass).

Now on to the things I loved about this show! Petrucci was on stage first, so I'll cover him: I love this guy. His music is exactly my style. A huge dose of progressive rock, shred, and thrash. All the songs he did, with the exception of one, were written exclusively for the G3 tour. An awesome composer! He is every bit as technically impressive as satch and vai, and perhaps a bit faster, but not nearly the show-off that vai is. Petrucci seems like just an average guy with an incredible talent. He was very modest and seemed to enjoy himself.

Vai: This guy is like every stereotype of a rock star I can think of. Flashy, wild, and wierd. He seemed to crave applause, and he got it! Neither satch nor petrucci could match the show he put on. In an incredible display of showmanship, Vai hit several harmonics with his tongue, and at the end of one song appeared to raise the pitch by sliding his tongue up the string! Of course this is impossible, and I learned from another member of the audience that he was using a whammy pedal. Still, Vai showed off more technical skill than anyone else at the concert. Something really incredible was when he and his back-up guitarist traded off playing each other's guitars by reaching their hands over and tapping on notes!

Satch: The man. That's probably enough said already =). He had to change the songs around a bit to play them without a rhythm guitarist, but satch is so cool he can carry it all himself anyway =). His rendition of "Always" was magnificent. I enjoyed it more than the studio recording. It was also the one song I wanted to hear him do more than any other, to see how my version compared to his. Personally I think I'm pretty bad ass (!), but I can't touch the masta =). BTW Satch if you're reading this, I've got it recorded in mp3 (www.chrismcgraw.com/mp3/Always.mp3) and on CD if you want it =) Not likely, but... would be cool to have you listen. I signed up for the backstage passes and would have given you my cd then, but I lost =(. Anyway, thanks for composing that song. All the girls were talking about me and I finally achieved fame during my last year of high school. Hey... there's no copyright lawsuit headed my way is there? =)

Well this has gotten WAY too long. I will always remember this concert. I have a lot of guitar practicing ahead of me! Maybe some day I'll get a 15 minute jam with one of these guys so they can laugh and poke fun at me! Peace.