This is a review of the show by my friend Nancy. She pretty much says it all.... she did forget the part about the poor keyboard guy having to introduce Yngwie's vintage '67 Strats and of course his Marshall amp stacks.. I've never seen that before but then I hadn't seen YJM either.. Joe just wanted to say thanks again for the backstage passes.... tom

G3 show Sunday night in Reno. I could have done without Yngwie, yes he's a good guitarist, I'm not saying he's not but he is so focused on throwing out guitar picks, whipping his gutar around his neck, in the air, etc and making poses that his playing takes a backseat because you are so distracted by his stupid antics. It must really suck to be in his band, 90% of the time they just stood there while he played, then he'd nod to them and they'd walk from the side and play. It was so obvious that he just considered them paid hands. They each had a SHORT solo during one song and even though Yngwie's mike worked the whole night... for some reason when he introduced them.. it cut out. It probably wasnt planned but you gotta wonder.. its so obvious that he wants his set to be ALL ABOUT YNGWIE! He must have threw down at least 150-200 picks.. some at the audience , others just on the ground... it was so distracting to his playing, the people I went with said "the guy needs better quality picks if he's disliking that many" It was really ridiculous. His poor guitar tech was running out every 10 minutes with a new strip of picks to put on his mike stand....again distracting from the show. Also Yngwie was swinging his guitar around and then suddenly throwing it at his guitar tech. We could see the look of terror on the guys face every time he tried to catch it... luckily he did. I thought maybe after all these years, maybe Yngwie had grown up a little and was looking forward to seeing him..... unfortunately he seems to have cultivated that attitude and ego to levels that are completely unbearable... at least to me. I was glad to see his set end.

Steve Vai.... now this was a breath of fresh air. His band came out and starting playing with an intensity that was incredible and the crowd really responded..... unlike how they were with Malmsteen. He always surrounds himself with incredible musicians and last night was probably the best band I've seen him with. He had Billy Sheehan on Bass, Tony MacAlpine on Keys/guitar ( I've wanted to see this guy live since the 80's ),Jeremy Colson on Drums and Dave Weiner on Guitar. Vai really makes sure his band members get the spotlight too, there were many 3 guitar jams dueling back and forth. When they left the stage I wasnt ready at all... could have listened a couple more hours. Joe.... well I've seen Joe on every tour. My friend Tom is a huge fan and gets us tickets every time he's here. Joe also had a great band : Jeff Campitelli - Drums,Matt Bissonette - Bass, Galen Henson - Guitar I had just seen Joe earlier this year so this set was good but short. He had an backdrop of silver tinsel... it made for some interesting pictures.... kinda seemed like "VEGAS" or something hehee. Joe was playing all new guitars.... every single one. They sounded good and looked great too. He also had all new amps. Backstage we asked Joe about the new guitars, he said he was having a little trouble with the inlay on the frets, couldnt see it or something. We joked... that he shouldnt have to be looking at that! He said even after 30 years of playing I still have to look! LOL The jam at the end with all 3 guitarists was incredible. Joe sang the first one: It was "Rockin in the Free World " - Neil Young song Yngwie and Vai were out there... of course Vai stands next to Joe and they are jamming together but Yngwie.... he has to go out to the front of the stage and do his own thing. Vai at one point even taps him on the shoulder to get his attention... it was a joke. Yngwie is still tossing picks left and right... even at one point tossing one to Joe's bass player?? He just thinks everyone is enthralled with him. It was quite humorous at the end of the song Yngwie is throwing his guitar in the air and oops he drops it on the ground LOL You could see Joe and Vai visibly cringe when it happened. Damn I wish I had gotten that picture! Of course he picks it up and tosses it to his tech again and leaves the stage. Then Vai does "Little Wing", Yngwie came back out with what looked like the same guitar. I think it was this song but maybe the next one that Yngwie's hair got caught on his guitar... he had to go have his tech help him get it out. Is that in a tech's job description? LOL I'm telling you... Yngwie was more like a member of Spinal Tap than anything. The next song Yngwie sings, it's Voodoo Chile, he sounds pretty good doing that but at the end he starts swinging his guitar in the air and both Joe and Vai jump back to get out of the way. They kind of looked at each other, shrugged and laughed. It was almost like Yngwie was this youngster that never toured before. They had Sheehan come out and sing one too, that was cool, he did La Grange (SP?) ZZtop.. it was good, Yngwie even got Billy to swing his bass around a couple times. Billy showed him up thought cause he had lighted inlays on the fret board.. All in all, it was good, at least watching Yngwie proved to be entertaining, especially for the last set. I think Vai and his band stole the show last night. But then Vai is the real showman. Joe has come a long way as far as stage presence is concerned. I remember when he would just huddle behind the mic and play his stuff. We went backstage and Joe talked to us for quite awhile, he is such a little guy. He's very gracious with his fans. Just talked to us like we were old buddies. Vai was a little less personable but he still signed something for me and let me get a picture. Yngwie, came in, took a couple pics with some female fans, heard him say "that fucker blah blah blah" when he was talking to someone and then he started to leave. A fan yelled "not so fast!, wrongway malmsteen" and he gave the guy a dirty look turned and acknowledged him and split the scene. Joe and Vai both stayed a long time making sure fans were taken care of. Joe again many thanks for the tour and all the work you do to put it on.

I give it a Ten for Vai and Joe, and a 2 for Yngwie.I wont waste to much time complaining about YJM, other than to say his performance was the worst I have ever paid to see.He was an embarassment.Low points were when he hacked up the Nylon String.I had no idea he was that sloppy, before this show I at least respected his technique.Not now.And the Jams, where he didn't seem to want to stay on stage for anyone's solos but his own, nor did he even know the chords, or try to play rhythm.Im done, but I could go on :D

Joe had his act together, and came to play.Great Tone, and I was happy to hear Crystal planet in the setlist, as well as Mystical Potatoe head.Nice to see him mix it up.I remember:Satch Boogie, Flying in a Blue Dream, Cool #9, Summer Song, Mystical Potatoe Head, Crystal Planet, and Always with you, Always with me and Ice 9 and The Extremist, but not in that order.

Vai's tone wasn't as great as Joe's but he still put on an amazing show.The Triple neck was great, as was Juice, The Reaper.Nice to see some surprises!

Improv, Reaper/Animal, Juice, Whispering a Prayer, FTLOGod, Drive the Hell out of here(I think..Encino Man song...or was it PCU..sorry) and I THINK that was all.WAY TOO SHORT from Vai, I think YJM went way over on his terrible set...like an HOUR!If he did 45 minutes like I thought he would, Vai probably could have played more. bummer.

For the Jam, it was the same as last year, but with "Keep on Rockin in the free world" instead of going down.Id like to see different songs, but I doubt Yngwie could learn a new song.

Sorry YJM fans if I offend.

All I can say is best show ever. I've never seen Vai or Yngwie before and they both rocked. I was able to meet Vai and Yngwie after the show and got some pictures and autographs. Observing Yngwie near the busses was like watching an episode of the Osbourns. He was very drunk (or so it seemed) but he still put on an awesome show and I still have the highest respect for all three. I grabbed a few picks that were thrown out. I was right in front so I got a bunch of cool pictures and peices of Yngwies guitar that were broken off after he pulled the strings off in the beginning. I was also able to grab Satriani's set list: Satch Boogie (personal favorite) The Extremist Ice 9 Cool #9 Flying In A Blue Dream Crystal Planet Mystical Potato Head... Always With You... Summer Song

Look forward to seeing it again in San Francisco. Hopefully I'll see Joe after the show.