man, i'm not sure what to say, it was awe inspiring, this was my second time seeing Joe, the first time was in the first half of the 90's over in portland oregon at the arlene shnitzer hall (Best sounding concert i've ever heard in my life..) but the mixed wizardry of vai and yngie was astounding, i had the good fortune to bring a friend of mine who hasnt really heard much from any of the G3'ers, and now i think he's got a new hobby :) he's already asking when the next show is. so yea... When is the next show in pittsburgh? i guess i have to wait and find out.. all in all I must say i left that show with a hightened energy that just hasnt gone away, and i hope it never does, thanks for kickin pittsburghs ass!

- Chazz

I thought it was a great show, overall. Just seeing Joe is inspiring - saw him last on his Crystal Planet tour. I thought maybe, in the middle Joe might not have been having his best night - but we all know that that is only relative - 95% of his show was crazy cool! The Extremeist - how he sounds so fresh on SB I don't know - never will. I thought the sound could have been a little better - perhaps it was the venue.

Yngwie - man, does one really need that many amps to cut through - the sound seemed pretty muddy and when the whole band played it was a wee bit jarry. I was quite amazed at how effortlessly he play fast but not much else - some of those harmonic minor concepts can be used so nicely to stir the soul but when its at the speed of light (no pun intended, Joe), its hard to take in after a while. Nonetheless seeing him was like ackonowledging a force to reckon with in the shred scene.

Steve Vai was very very cool - the ultimate showman and that band did great with a five piece band, yet with a sound that was not bad - Whispering... came through the most beautiful as did For the love,,,,,,, as always.

Joe Satriani's playing has been an inspiring force in my life - not from just the playing point of view but also being able to feel the urgency of a rocker like SB to the sweetness of Love Thing. That, I think taught me a lot more about saying something when you play. Thank you many times, Joe.

Naveen.

Overall it was another GREAT G3 tour, as always. I drove all the way up from St. Louis, MO (about 700 miles) and 9 hrs. to get to Pgh. to check it out. It was the 2nd that I've seen and unfortunately I felt that Yngwie and his arogance/ego that he made evident on stage was a disappointment to me. This was most evident especially during the jam at the end of the show. Always had to be in the spotlight and flipping his guitar around and making noise and whatever else he does to show off. I don't have anything against him, but I wish that he'd have played more "music" than just showing off alot and given Steve and Joe their time to shine on stage as well. His tone was also very harsh, noisy and "unmusical" to my ears.

Steve put on another amazing performance as usual and it was great to see him with Tony and Billy especially. It was also great to see Dave Weiner performing, too.. but in the end it saddened me to realize that even though I'm personally an acquaintance of Dave, I learned very quickly how being on the road on tour with such a great band can change a person and make them quite distanced and give off an attitude of being "above" others or not wanting to take the time to acknowledge. :o(

Joe had a new setup this year and I was quite surprised to see Joe playing through 3 Peavey Triple-X half stacks. His tone was a bit more gritty than what I'm used to and was a bit better than Yngwie's, but not as good as Steve's. Joe, I'd suggest sticking with your Marshalls or going with the Cornford amps... they sound alot better than the Peaveys! I wish he had played different songs than what he normally plays, too. He did some great tapping sequences and all, but the songs were the typical, whereas Steve played more of his obscure songs along with alot of great feedback control and sonic experimentation. That was good to hear.

Overall, the G3 tour is a show that I will always attend whenever I can and will definitely be there for the next as well. I wish the entire crew a safe continuance of the tour and look forward to seeing them all again soon.

I had the pleasure of seeing the G3 show on Saturday in Pittsburgh P.A. and was very pleased with the overall show. Yngwie was awesome. I have seen him many times and have yet to be disappointed. Steve Vai was also amazing, but had some sound problems. During the performance of Juice, Billy's bass was too loud and Steve's guitar could'nt be heard very well. Also, everytime Tony did a lead with Steve, his guitar was much louder. So again, Steve's guitar couldn't be heard clearly. That being said, Steve was still awesome as always. Now lets talk about Joe's performance. I last saw Joe on the Flying in the Blue Dream tour which was a long time ago, and have not really had the chance to see him since. So when this tour was announced I knew I had to go. To see Yngwie, Steve and Joe together was just too good to pass up. I thought Joe was the better of the three. His sound was amazing and although Yngwie and Steve are world class guitarists, I have to say I like Joe's style much better. I'm a huge fan of all three of them, and have every piece of music I can get my hands on. I would love to see the show again; however, I didn't much care for the jam part of the show. I would have liked to have seen them do something different and more creative. Maybe write a new guitar piece with all of them having a part in the writing. Just a thought. Anyways, I would go again without a second thought.

P.S. I had to travel from Rochester N.Y to see the show. I hope the next G3 tour will make a stop in our town. We have two very good venues that could hold about the same amount of people, have a much better sound, and would be much more comfortable. I can only hope. Also, next time around, the G3 line up should be Joe, Steve, and Tony MacAlpine or Greg Howe.

Great Show Joe!!!!

It was a real treat to meet and speak with you after the show.

Hope to see ya again real soon

I have to admit that it was going to take a lot to live up to my expectations for this show. I am a fan of all three. Yngwie, to me, was more entertaining than Eric Johnson (please quit trying to sing...) or Kenny Wayne Shepard but the guy needs to get out of the eighties visually. Having said that, damn can he play. His acoustic number was really good to see, it showed me he didn't need his delay at all. I just wish he had better manners in the jam session. He seemed very rude when he would walk of the stage when Steve was soloing. His band was sort of a waste. The corny keyboard player gave a giant introduction. I swear that was young Geddy Lee on bass. I think the guitar tech stole the show. After Yngwie, I thought how I would hate to have to follow him on stage, but Vai proved he could do it. I think Steve really put on a good show in every sense of the word. He was fun to watch, great song selection that showed we could do more than sweep pick his modes and his band was amazing. I would have paid to just see Tony, Billy, and Steve by them selves. The kid on drums (was that Flea) was very good also. Whispering a Prayer was perfect. Steve played a typical Steve set, flawless. Always With You to me was the highlight. Summer Song and Satch Boogie also were great. I really liked Starry Night.

The Jam was sort of a mess. Joe and Steve had to be pissed with Yngwie soloing over them talking and there solos. Mr. Malmsteen have you ever considerred learning chords and how to strum a rythm? When they where all on ths same page it was good. I would not have minded if Satch would have just played another song and let Yngwie stay on the bus. Don't get me wrong, I liked Yngwie set very much he just doesn't play well with others. He needs to be in his own band and he is great. I would recommend seeing him solo if you have the chance or check out his DVD. It is a bit unfair to measure Joe and Steve's chemistry.

Two things I would have liked.... The Attitude Song and Tony and Billy in the jam session.

I had a great time at the show. It was truly a good experience to see these guys play the way they did. I had to give this show only a 7 though for a couple of reasons.

My first complaint is the the biggest. It affected all performances. The sound was not good at all. Now it may have been better on the floor, but from the first section up, in direct line of the speakers, it was just too freakin loud. I've had experience working sound boards for 1500-2000 people, so I can understand a few principles of the whole deal. I understand that not everyone will be happy. But when you can't understand the great work and articulation of these guitarists' playing because of the distortion of your own ear drums, the experience just isn't what it should be. I feel as if the sound guy was going more for the high enery rock concert at the expense of sound quality. However, as a fan of musicians such as these, I want the quality their hard work deserves. Often I'd cover my ears to hear so much beautiful playing that was impossible to pick up without doing so. I'm not sure if the guy just had too much mids running through, and that things were all getting muddied up, but a notch down on the main slider would have fixed the whole problem, no doubt. There's a fine line between too loud and just right in a concert like this, and the guy was a notch or two above just right. It's a shame because otherwise the mix was pretty good most of the time. I just hated to miss out on the intricacies of the playing, especially with Vai's band. I couldn't understand a thing that the bass players were doing unless they were playing sustained notes.

My second complaint was simply the clash of styles with Malmsteen and the other 2. The guy can shred like it's no ones business. He's second to none, and to put it like Vai did, he's a freak of nature. But he just never put it together musically into something that would showcase his talent well. His lack of musical concern was more evident in the jam at the end. Vai was soloing and he'd be off drop kicking picks and messing around, or he'd overstep his bounds with his own soloing. I wouldn't have minded so much had the entire band been engaging in that sort of stage antic, but they weren't and he stuck out like a sore thumb. I found myself watching him, rather than watching Joe or Vai during their own solos. It just seemed like he was off in his own world while the other guys played off each other. I would have actually liked his over the top behavior had it been able to fit with the other musicians on stage. But that it did not. That said, I did like his own set though the sound problems mentioned above kept me from really hearing what he was doing. His band was of the same mindset he was, and it gelled pretty well. I liked it.

Now Vai was awesome, much better than I expected having never seen him. I loved some of the things he did and the emotion, style, and care he put into every note. It was really enjoyable. It's hard for me to describe, but me and my buds were just kinda in a trance following his set. He really did some great things. For the Love of God was my personal favorite of the night by Vai.

And of course there was Satch. Oh man did he just flat out ROCK! We were jamming out there. He was just connecting with the audience in a refreshing way. I appreciated Crystal Planet very much. And to end with Summer Song was just classic. Unfortunately I felt his set was too short. Maybe it was because his set was easier to follow and I knew the songs better.

The ending jam was pretty good. I mentioned most of the negatives from this earlier. I loved the choice of music. And I really liked Rockin in Free World. However, I couldn't hear any voices with the sheer volume of everything. That was unfortunate.

Overall it was a experience and worth the money. I have to be honest though and say the negatives I mentioned really kept the show from being exceptional. And it really could have been. Great time though and I'd certainly go again.

AWESOME show as always, Steve and Joe were great tonight, and what an awesome thing it was to see them play together with Yngwie who is awesome showman!!!! Never been a big fan of his, and his songs all seemed to blend together into one giant long arpeggio fest, but it was great to see him nonetheless. This is my second G3, I saw them with Robert Fripp and KWS on 6/27/97, and Joe and Steve were great on both, but being a huge blues fan I liked the whole bluesy feel of the first show better. EITHER WAY, the show tonight RAWKED!! I would LOVE to see a G3 with a guy who isn't well known, Butch Walker, although his style isn't much like the other guys anymore, I think it would be awesome to see him jam with Steve and Joe. I would give my left nut in a second to be able to play FTLOG the way Steve does live, and I would LOVE to see a live version of Forgotten 2.

Show was GREAT!!!! Keep up the good work guys and thank you for sharing your endless talent with us in the Burgh!!!!!