When I first saw the current G3 lineup, I thought to myself 'Wow, this couldn't be any better.' Now, on the day after the show I can admit that I was wrong. To go through it set by set...

Yngwie J. Malmsteen - I have been a fan of his blend of classical and heavy-metal since his first solo album back in the middle 80's. Besides the fact that the show started way late, he hasn't grown as a musician since the 80's. Yngwie's ego hasn't let him change with the times. Other than for 'Black Star' his set was the worst I have seen him perform out of the three times I have seen him live. His rhythm section was drowned out in the mix, and didn't shine in the brief solo sections they were given. Giving credit where credit is due, his keyboardist was extremely talented, if a bit sad for having to introduce Yngwie's Marshalls and Strats. The lowlight of this set was a tie between the 80's posing antics, and the Concerto piece in which the taped orchestra was drowned out almost completely. My wife's interpretation: "Yngwie sounded like he was torturing his guitars." Paul Gilbert/Gary Hoey/Tony MacAlpine (insert instrumental guitarist here) would have been a much better fit.

Steve Vai - Stole the show. From the moment he walked out on stage with his triple neck and sat down to just play solo with digital delay loops, through every song he performend he was on fire. My wife, not an instrumental music fan, there just to be with me while I enjoyed my music is now a Steve Vai fan (finally!!!) :o) She agreed with my comment after the show that the guitar is a natural extention of Steve's body, while to Yngwie is is a beast to be tamed. The highlight of his set....the whole thing! I especially was touched by his performance of "Whispering a Prayer" and by the respect he showed his band in introducing them before the second song. The lowlight of his set was that it was too short, even if it was the same length as Yngwie's, it seemed to be only half...and I would have been pleased to hear/see Tony and Steve play "Angel Food/Devil's Food" or something similar with Tony highlighting his piano playing ability.

Joe - Solid as expected. His tone was perfect as expressed by another reviewer. I had no problem hearing the band behind him though.... His set included the expected songs as well as the highlight of his set "Starry Night/Midnight". It seems to me that Joe had more of an edge to his playing/sound than when I saw him in the mid 90's. My wife liked Joe's music, but wasn't able to get into it as much as she was for Steve's set due to Joe's lack of an entertaining stage presence... Not being a musician, she dosn't understand that Joe just lets the music do the talking for him. I think the lowlight of Joe's performance was that I was hoping for a little more intamcy from him about the songs, or a little more variation/improv on the musical themes of his songs. I was very happy to hear at least one song that is rarely played live ("Midnight"), and would have liked to hear other rarities.

The Jam - I didn't like it, as expected. It was cut short from what other reviews have said about Billy coming out and singing a song (due to the late start by Yngwie?), and to be honest with all you other fans, three guitars all sharing the spotlight at one time is too much, especially for such a small acoustic space such as the Uptown. The vocals couldn't be heard, and it was hard to make out the rhythm section as well. Didn't the sound man adjust for the quantity of midrange tones? However, the 'novelty' value of seeting all three on stage at once is worth keeping the jam.

Great show and a great evening. Show was about 3.5 - 4 hours long. Started a bit late. I heard a sound checking going on even at 7 PM. I assume this was due to either acoustc issues, or wanting to make sure the new mixing board was set up ok. (one of the others evidently burned up the previous night in Denver). On to the show review.

Yngwie opened. A step back to the 80s. Great techinical ability and speed, but a very dated sound and technique. He's found his comfort zone and just hung out there. He's put on a few pounds, but he was really enjoying himself. It was not really all that enthused about seeing Yngwie. His music has never seen too varied. This set proved it.

Steve came out next. He started by himself on stage on a chair with his triple neck guitar. The song started out slow and worked it's way into a sonic frenzy with some riffs being played and then looped back so he could play over them. The rest of his band came out and they launched into a new song (maybe from the new album). The rest of the set seemed short, but lasted around 45 minutes. With MacAlpine and Sheehan as band mates, this set was a ton of fun. The sound mix was a little off. I thought Steve was a bit hard to hear at times. The highlight of the set for me was Whispering A Prayer. This brought me to tears at a couple of points. Steve received a huge ovation from the crowd and seemed genuinely humbled.

Joe finished up the solo acts and had a really good set. His sound mix was probably the best of the three acts. I saw Joe back in 1998 and it was a great experience. Tonight it seemed like he was holding something back for some reason. A lot of the songs sounded just like they do on the CDs (almost note for note on a couple). I know Joe's writing and playing style is a lot different than the other two artists, but I think that people come to a show to hear things played a little different than the way they are on the CD. This was really my only complaint about the set. Spice it up Joe!!! Throw us for a loop. :)

The G3 Jam was the closing event as always. Voodoo Child, Little Wing, and Rocking in the Free World were the three songs. Hearing Yngwie's neoclassical runs over a blues vamp was rather interesting to say the least. Everyone seemed to really have a good time. I found this part of the show hardest to actually hear and distinguish the notes in. Joe was easy to pick out, but Steve and Yngwie's notes hid in the wall of sound eminating from the stage.

All in all, a damn good show. Looking forward to the next one for sure. :)

Great show last night. Ygvie set was good definitely got the 80’s – 90’s stage moves down, a real blast from the past. His mix wasn’t very good. They forgot about the bottom end for the bass player, to bad he didn’t introduce his band mates either. Entertaining but I was ready for the set to end about 2/3rd’s way in.

Vai on the other hand, had the best mix of all. Great group behind him and I dug every bit of it. I was familiar with only one song but It didn’t matter at all. My wife went me and she wasn’t familiar at all with Vai’s music but she is hook now. We were so caught up in his set that we were shocked when it ended and even though he played as long as the first set.

Satriani was great. His mix could have been better (you could not hear the bass and rhythm guitar very well). On the other hand Joe’s tone was killer it didn’t matter much. I am familiar with each song he played and It was great through and through.

The sets just got progressively better! The 3G jam experience was way cool. When all three were together I appreciated Ygvie more. It would have been cool if they would have dueled licks to really see every ones prowess.