this was the first time that ive seen these 3 performers live , although i wasnt too familiar with yngwie , or steve . i recognized joe right away. although he played his set last i still found that it was the best all together set. because of malmsteen i had a hard time being impressed afterwards. and steve vai is an awesome musician aswell , i mean considering he is a student of yours.well anyway i later appreciated his pieces much better , although i didnt so much like the ones he played . i cannot even remember if he played "answers" or "for the love of god ". anyways i especially loved your song " always with me, always with you" i find there is alot of emotion in it. also this is the song i first saw you in . my dad collected alot of video clips from the 80's all the way to mid 90's. anyways i myself am a musician . and i loved that show alot . it opened my eyes to music beyond my vision. and also it really really ROCKED!!

Love bryan..

when i heard abot joe satriani coming to canada i was really happy, i'm a 16 year old guitarist who discovered satriani's work about three years ago, and inspired me to play. after months of begging my dad to drive me to montreal, he finally gave in. so on the 7th we left ottawa and got to montreal. getting to the show was no problem and i love dealing with crazy francophone taxi drivers. malmsteen got on first, and i must say it took him a long time to warm up, i wonder when he was going to play a song. unfortunetly it's quite diffucult to play at the speed he's playing at, and i respect him greatly for it, but its kinda boring listening to every note being played in the exact same manner over and over for 20 minutes, but hey there his on stage ego that is so thick you can taste it. he's a guitar pimp, he wears his gold chains and lets his belly flop out, but remember he's cool (wink wink). steve vai surprised me sooo much by just walking out on stage, when his gear was getting setup, and sits down and begins to play with a three neck guitar a jazzy bluesy riff. he was incredible, so much emotion and passion in his playing, i got goosebumps WOW!!! then after he completed his set he got a very well deserved appluase which lasted quite a while. at this point i was getting very excited, due to the fact my guitar hero was walking on the stage next. satriani was incredible, skillfull, emotoinal, melodic he has it all. no b/s just phenominal playing to a crowd of amazed on lookers enjoying every minute of his set. i honestly was so blown away by his performance, i can't think of many words to describe how i felt. next the :jam" session, i loved the G3 when eric johnson was on stage with satch and vai, but man oh man malmsteen sucked big time. unfortunetly they played cover of a neil young song and an old cream song but hey it was good. what really blew me away was the fact that malmsteen's solos did not fit in at all with the song, it was horrible. meanwhile satch and vai slowly backed away from the ego maniac trying to dominate the stage. satch and vai played amazing solos and left a lasting impression on the crowd. in the end this was an amazing experience, and i'll always remember how much fun it was to see them, anyways i just wanted to say to satriani and vai anmd even malmsteen, thank you for inspiring and leaving a lasting impression on people for your work, it's helped music a lot to hear people like you

Alex (me_alex2@hotmail.com)

I was pretty much excited to have the chance to see the G3 with first row tickets. It was the first time I saw Steve and Yngwie live. Satriani came in Quebec City with Dream Theater two years ago. Joe was, as usual, perfect!!!!! Over and over again, he played the best songs and played them perfectly. Steve Vai gave to the fan a magical show and his band was really, really great!!!!! Billy Sheehan proves to be the bassman of choice for him. What a sound and what a show!!!! Yngwie is a great entertainer and he proved it at Montreal. I think he did not give his best performance but I can't be more excited to see the musician that create my youthful guitar hero definition. Yngwie is Yngwie and that's all.

Thanks to them for this great show and really hope to see next tour in Montreal.

Daves (Quebec City, Canada)

The Nov. 7th show at the Montreal Bell Center was amazing. It was my first time seeing my two favorite players, Satch and Vai. All under the same roof. Three of my friends and I travelled 12 hours to see the show. As if the show was not reason enough to make the trip, we also were lucky enough to win backstage passes from this site. Thanks a million guys.... As for the show, I thought it rocked. Vai was great. The fans didn't want to let him leave the stage. After a barrage of applause he said, " How about I see you guys later when I come out with Joe and Yngwie". I never was a big Yngwie fan growing up, and that hasn't changed, but you have to respect him for what he has done, and is still doing.... literally. Satch had me glued to my seat in awe. I was walking up to the front to get some good pictures for vai and yngwie, but when satch came on I couldn't stop watching his fingers fly. The average player like myself can't comprehend how damn good these guys are. Awsome... Now, backstage was another story. We were totally prepared. I had carried a hard drawing tube all night with 4 posters for the guys to sign. They hearded us under the stands to some kind of lounge and we waited there for a while. Then Satch walked in and was stormed by a bunch of vultures. I was kind of crazy. I waited for a while thinking maybe he would come around and shake hands and sign a few things, but I quickly realized that if I didn't get in the crowd I wouldn't be getting a signiture. When I did make my way to him he took the time to say hi, pose for a picture, and answer my question about why he was playing through peaveys instead of marshalls. It was almost the same situation with vai. He also took the time to shake hands and pose for a picture. Yngwie, on the other hand, was kind of a dick. He only stayed long enough to finish his 100th beer, and didn't even look into the cameras for pictures. He basically ruined the jam at the end of the show playing the exact same scale over and over again at lighning speed, throwing his guitar around his neck, and sliding it across the stage to his guitar tech so he could take a swig. Satch and Vai must have just shaken their heads watching the antics of this guy. Anyway, It was all worth it. I have a framed poster signed by all three of them, with the backstage pass mounted in the upper right corner, the stub in the lower right side, and across the bottom pictures of me and satch, me and vai, and me standing next to Yngwie who is just looking off to the side waiting for the next vulture to get something signed. Oh yeah I also caught one of Yngwie's picks... that's in the frame too...... Thanks for the awsome show guys and thanks for taking the time to sign our posters. Even you Yngwie......

Later

Well here's a comment from Michel Cusson's student after 20 years of intensive guitar playing, therefore being perfectionist and seeking the cleanest and coolest tone.. all I can say is that the show was waaaay too loud causing too much reverb. Perhaps the Bell Centre isn't the place for such a venue. Anyways, I left the place with a little disappointment. Ygwie's set was too long. What a clown.. and always the same thing over and over. After 10 minutes I had enough of him. No versatility, no melody.. I couldn't feel any emotions.. basic things that I've learnt from Michel.. a guitarist must be expressive. Then comes Mr. Vai. what can I say... amazing set! He stole the whole show.. obviously he's the only one who got the standing ovation. He also had a great band with him... Tony McAlpine, Billy Sheehan.. I was impressed. Then finally Joe.. hmmm... he seemed a bit tired. His set was too short, Stu wasn't there, he completely missed "Midnight". Heck, I was singing it in my head trying to help him recover from the mistakes. And Joe.. PLEASE play some new stuff. About the new Peavey amps.. get rid of these and get back to the Marshalls. I counldn't recognize his stage sound that was his signature since the very beginning. The G3 concert back in 1997 in Montreal was a lot better. Maybe because Michel Cusson was there? ;-)

To conclude.. either the next G3 is a G2 or bring in Steve Morse or Paul Gilbert or even better, Kazumi Wattanabe.. a Japanese guitarist who can make your jaw touch the ground. YJM just didn't cut it. Sorry for the ranting but aside from Vai's performance, there wasn't much I was impressed with. My girlfriend felt the same.

First of all, Im peruvian (Southamerica) and I recently moved to Canada....Couldn't believe that a G3 concert with my 3 guitar legens was announced! I really love Joe's music and thats why I decided to go to the concert, however I was going to be surprised that night.

Yngwie: His show was cool, what can I say YM is always YM. It would have been better if he would have played more complete songs!!! He is fast, and we know that....just more complete songs!

Steve: there are no words to describe his performance. Sorry Joe and guys, but it was Steve's night....he was the absolut-master that night. He touched souls! His sound was the best from the night, very solid, clear and powerful...out of this world! When he played Whispering a Prayer the whole Bell Centre was breathing, feeling, living and levitating with that song, absolutely amazing!

Joe: great sound and nice performance but I was expeting more from Joe, more comunication/connection with the audience, the ''touching souls'' Joe music that I know. I went to the concert with my wife, who likes Joe's slow songs mostly. HE should have played Rubina,Rubina Blue Sky Happ., Love thing. Dont get me wrong, I liked his performance and I also like the songs that he played, but if there is Steve playing Whispering..., songs like the mentioned above are required! Aways with me Always with you creates a magic moment...but its to short for the context of the concert! Thats my opinion.

The jam was cool but it went too loud at the end.

Thank you Joe for that concert, your virtuosity is amazing and you made one of my drems come true! Come with a whole concert by yourself soon!!!

Roberto

What is there not to like about G3 . The only thing is I would have like to see the crowd more into it...not seated and rocking out. Ywgwie seemed out on his own at moments but I am not complaining. I'll be there for the next G3 show!! Maybe get Al DiMeola on board for the next one. "hint hint" I also saw Al this summer at the international Jazz festival in Montreal. Bottom line for me is I just can't get enough! I watched the DVD of G3 (with Eric Johnson) show over this week. My buddy and I almost drove to the show in Toronto... We'll next stop is Primus in november 22nd. See ya guys and thanks for the memories and a great evening. Please don't ever not play in Montreal for whatever reason when touring solo or together. People are depending on you for their hit of pure guitar magic! I'm addicted.

Ciao!

Patric Chehab

Great show.. got to meet Joe and Steve backstage.. Two people who had an incredible influence on my musical stylings while I was growing up.. thanks guys. Malmsteen was a write off.. I found his aprt of the show extremely boring, and well, frankly, thought he was a bad choice to be part of the group. Even at the end during the three jamming songs, he seemed to just want to be alone.. definitely not a team player.. also, someone should tell him that the 80's rock icon attitude look is out, and he might want to lose some weight...

Patrick

Yo guitar maniacs!!! --- What a show! The standing ovation for Vai was amazing --- I was blown away by the gift this man possesses and the response he generates.

Satch and Malmsteen were also great in their own way, but Vai stll took it I think. Satch was a close 2nd, and well Malmsteen ... I still don't understand what I witnessed there. =)

Bottom line - they all played their hearts out - yeah, even Malmsteen with his guitar-twirling, pick-throwing, I don't need my band 95% of the show and I'm stuck in the 80s with my look but I love to play classical persona, it oddly worked for me. He is definitely the most technical player I've ever seen, but ... Vai and Satch guys ... WOW!

The only reason I rated this a 9 was because of the MICs. The sound guy needs to be SHOT! Too many beers later (and after the show) I tried to tell them how I felt ... All I got was "I'm lights". =)

I think it's cuz I play keyboards =) ......... laterz and rock on!!!!!!!!

Joe is the best of the 3!! The sound was shitty for Malmsteen and Vai,but Joe had the best sound!Malmsteen got on my nerves, he didn't impress me at all!! Steve Vai was very good,good prestation!! When Joe play ALWAyS WITH YOU ALWAYS WITH ME it was magical!! It was my second Satriani concert (Saw him in Quebec with Dream Theater) and Satriani is the best there is!!

Hey Joe...when are you coming back alone??? An hour of you is not enough!!

Please come back soon!!

Thanks for the great night!!!

WOW What a show. All of them are incredible players period. Malmsteen just improvise almost all the time and he is the master of the universe at it. I think he has the most melodic songs of all 3 but he should play a tad more like on the albums. Great stage presence and a very tasteful 10 minutes at classical guitar. Vai dominated the stage. He seemed to be in total control of everything (a bit too much?) and played incredibly. I especially loved when he interacted with his bandmates. He had the longest cheers ffrom the crowd of 5000 that was there. Satriani was cool and he had good songs. His playing does nothing to me though especially after Yngwie and Steve but I enjoyed his prestation. As for stage presence, all of them are completely different. Malmsteen never stops his moves described by other reviews and gives all he can to the fans and to all the purists who are frustrated by that, this is a SHOW on a STAGE! Vai stands like a giant in front of dwarfs and is quite sexy at times. Satriani smiles at the crowd and obviously has great fun. The jam was delightful with all of three having fun and being respectfull of the other. Hey guys, keep playing rather than singing ;o)... Yngwie rules!

Lux

Hey, you need to shut up....Malmsteen had the biggest presence of all 3......he just gives the best he can...and he's awesome...i tought he was the best last night....

Joe And Steve were awesome too !..overall an awesome show

and by the way, what are you talking about....the crowd was up the entire show...at least from the side i was on....i was in the front row on the floor...and all my section stood up the entire show...muhahaha

it was awesome, thanks to Joe, Yngwie and Steve :)

Words cannot describe this experience for me right now.

I'll try later. Look for an edit of this post .

What a shame... me and my friend were the only one standing... all the fuckin Bell center was sitting on their asses. I give joe and steve a big 10+/10... and i give malmsteem a lame 3/10. I never saw malmsteem in show before and i'm never gonna go to another show with him again.

Anyway Good show, U rock guys... But wtf happened with the crowd ?!? there was no reaction !

Cya