My trip from Atlanta to Nashville, then Winston-Salem, then Atlanta(29th) G3 tour was one of the best ever! I drove over 1000 miles in 3 days to see my favorite musicians. I was amazed because I only saw 3 shows, 3 nights in a row, and they were on a non-stop 10 night tour. Night after night, these guys would give110%!! In Winston-Salem, the club was a bit smaller, but the show seemed more intimate and aftershow as well! I was dead tired after 3 days. and it was WORTH every minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the great music Joe!

a dedicated fan! Todd

THE BAD: The venue was horrible. Six large red brick pillars obstructed the stage. The stage was small. The stage was too low. As for the performances, I saw the G3 show in Reno a few weeks ago and the Winston-Salem performance was poor compared to the top notch show I saw in Reno.

I am a diehard Satch and Vai fan. I've traveled across the country to see Satch in San Francisco, CA and, of course, Reno, NV. I've driven all night in the middle of an ice storm to see Satch. However, Satch's performance was somewhat robotic in Winston-Salem. It was as if he was just going through the motions. He even missed a couple of notes on a couple of songs. I understand every performer, even a guitar wizard like Satch, has a bad night. Of course, my view could be jaded because the venue was so crappy and I had to stretch and strain to see Satch and after 4 hours of bobbing and weaving I was getting irritated.

Finally, Satch's setlist was more or less a reprise of his abbreviated show from last year with Dream Theater except for a couple of additions (Mystical Potato; Crystal Planet).

THE GOOD: Even though Satch's performance was robotic, it was still Satch. Even seeing Satch in a crappy venue on an off night is still magical. He is just a nice guy and a wonder to watch, at least what I could see from behind a pillar.

The other good aspect is that Ynqwie has toned down. At Reno, my wife was laughing hysterically at Ynqwie's childish antics. However, a few days before the Winston-Salem show Steve Vai posted a message about Ynqwie on his board and I suspect Ynqwie was told to cut the crap and play. And Ynqwie played at Winston-Salem and he played well. In fact, I enjoyed his performance as much as Satch's performance and I do not care for Ynqwie.

THE UGLY: Except for a couple hundred people cramped against the stage, there was no good place to stand to watch the show. The venue was just pathetic. I've attended hundreds upon hundreds of shows and I've seen bands in dive bars that were better than the Mellinieum Center.

PARTING WORDS: Although it was an off night, it was still worth the 3 and a half hour drive

I've read all the reviews, and all of them are very positive, but the rule "you can't satisfy all the people all of the time" definitely applies here...The following review might be long, and I am only stating my opinion on the show, and that is all it is. A lot of people are very happy, and overall I was to but.....

First off, the venue sucked. If I was 21 years old, still a drinker, it would have been great. I am 31, do not drink, and standing for 4 1/2 hours kind of was really sucking. Great if you’re on the front row, but to the rest of us crammed trying to see, it was bad. If your short, you are out of luck, you won’t see anything. The stage was WAY to low, and very hard to see over people's heads.....A stage riser would have been awesome, but who is in charge of booking the venue, making sure of that stuff? Obviously, either nobody cared, or it was all about "the money", or just overlooked. I’ve seen shows in small venues, and the stage was much higher.

Yngwie was great...His showmanship really was good to see...Just the way he possessed the guitar and the way he towered over the guitar looked awesome. ( I have a little punk rock into me, so attitude is a plus for me) His runs did get kind of old, and after a while, he was losing my attention. (Granted I do have a very short attention span for some things, although I can listen to a whole record from start to finish and be totally into it)

Steve's set was the best of all of them. Although, coming out and sitting down on a chair for his intro to me was either selfish of him, or just overlooked. We came to see these guys play, and nobody ( again, unless your on the front row) could see him. There were even guys yelling "Stand Up". Again stage riser, or bad venue problem. Steve should have stood up. What he was playing was TOTALLY AMAZING, I wish I could have seen it. I was about 6 rows back, and could not see this awesome stuff going on. Steve, stand up!!!! The rest of his set awesome!! He played stuff I kind of have not heard over the past few years, and it was cool. I think I have become desensetized with "For the Love of God" , as he always seems to play this song over the years. I give Stevie a 9. Very tight with his band, you can tell he put a lot of effort into the arranging and bringing us a "show". His tone was awesome!!!

Next Joe. Man I hate to diss Joe, I still think (as I always have), he is the best in the genre. His songwriting abilities are bar none. He writes the best songs, and his playing ability is flawless. Question: Did Joe mess up on "Always with me", or was it me. Somewhere around the 2nd verse, it seems like the phrasing was off, or the band switched chords too soon or something? Maybe just me. I have never seen Joe mess up before, and it happens. I am just curious.

Ok back to Joe. I’m going to say this: Poor song selection. If you have seen Joe 2 or 4 years ago, or 10 years ago, he always plays "Always with me", he always plays "Summer song" and he always plays "Satch Boogie." These songs are done for me....I do not get anything out of them anymore. Joe maybe you could play "Crushing Day" , or "Rubina", or something you haven’t ever played live before. Give us a real treat. I may be wrong, but as I see it, most of the fans that come to these shows are diehards. I have heard "always", and "summer song",and "Satch Boogie" way to many times. I am sure I am not the only one to think this way. You hear it on the background of commercials on the radio, and it seems you always play these songs. Joe's set didn’t have much spunk. Granted he plays that guitar like no one else, but no audience interaction, no tricks or anything like that. Maybe this was compounded by the fact I was standing for four hours trying to fight to see these guys. The final straw, I looked at the people around me, and they were feeling the same. Rubbing there necks, wobbling, looking very beat up, and tired of struggling to see because the stage was way to low. I finally left, and went and bought a shirt, and got ready to get moving, I was ready for the encore with Stevie, and Yngwie. And while I was leaving he started with "Summer Song" ,and I said to me "You aren’t missing anything you haven’t seen or heard before". I guess the "politically correct", or the popular thing is to play "the hit songs", but again, I think , most of us are diehards, and If I am wrong, then I speak for myself only. I would much rather Joe, ditch "always", and "summer" , for some older stuff never played live before, or something new I haven’t seen him play live. "Borg Sex", is one of my new fav's of Joe.

Granted ,everyone only had about 45 minutes to play, and I imagine it’s a dilemma for them guys to come up with a good set list that satisfies everyone. I am just saying what I would have liked.

The "loudness, distorted issue". Too damm Loud for me. I should have bought earplugs. That’s my responsibility. Again I must be getting to old. I guess loudness is a part of Rock N' Roll. At times, it was so loud, there was absolutely no clarity, and it was a big wash of blob. Earplugs won’t fix that.

The all star jam was great, and was a nice encore.

If it was my tour, I would make sure that I was high enough for people to see me. Be it another venue, stage riser, whatever. I am sure they have all the recording gear in place to record so they can sell their G3 cd's. Put no one seemed to care about the visibility factor. What a crappy venue, and poor visibility was the problem. Never again will I do that. I don’t care if Van Halen got back with DLR, I would not go to that place. (maybe VH would have a riser though)? Ok,I lied, I would go see a DLR reunion, hoping they had a stage riser.

I still love Joe, Stevie , and Yngwie. I still buy their records, and I bought a shirt. I know those guys are trying to make a living, and there not packing some big outside venue. But I think they are well off enough to think about "us" just a little bit more. My brother said the gig tonight in Atlanta should have been the one we went to. He said you can see them there. I guess again, my responsibility, but if G3 next year is at the millennium center, I won’t go. And no matter where it is next year, if Joe plays "Summer Song" , and "Always with me” ,and "Satch Boogie" again in the same 45 minute set, I will never go to a g3 show again.

Overall, I still got my G3 fix, and was somewhat satisfied. You probably will never see Joe, Steve, and Yngwie on the same bill again. Thanks you guys for the effort, and I still love you guys!!

p.s. - I have a feeling I may get "flamed", criticized or even attacked for this post. But for the sake of this cool group and to not create a flame war back and forth between other members, no matter what is said about me, or about my post, I will not post back and start a flame war. I will be reading the posts, as I would like to hear others people's opinion. This is a cool website, and I think it is way cool we can post our opinions, so I will not reply to "flames". Thanks Joe for the cool site!!!