Excellent gig. It's a pity you have to remain at your seat behind some dude who has a big head.

The seats under the balconies offer zero treble - everything sounds incredibly muffled. I feared this after watching UFO the week before.

The security are assholes too.

The Apollo sucks Joe, next time go to the Academy instead.

What was wrong with Fripp? His input was minimal to say the least. I know the guy has problems at the mo' but I'd certainly recommend Michael Schenker for the next visit man.

This was my first G3 concert, brilliant show, still recovering a bit. Got to the apollo, grabbed a satch shirt and went in and i was shocked, seats!?! I couldn't believe there were seats at a rock concert, but I got used to it when Steve Vai came on and well I'll say a little more below. Robert Fripp started at around 7.30, I'll be honest and tell you I didn't really get his music, I think most people had come to hear some rock music and he just wasn't playing it and I wished he'd come out of the dark corner he was hiding in. I don't know how many songs Fripp played it was hard to tell where one ended and another began.

Next up was Steve Vai, he came on and said hey, did a few songs and introduced his band and told us how he had a cold. I have to give it to mr Vai, he's a true entertainer, the way he moves, the way he plays. Very unique performer and I doubt I'll ever see another quite like him. I'd say Vai played around ten songs, for me the special moment was for the love of god, which had an extended introduction with the keyboard player doing the main melody then vai taking it, one of the greatest lines to grace guitar.

After that it was time to have a 15 minute break and a soggy cornetto, thanks manchester apollo ;).

Next was Joe Satriani, first of all a few people stood up, then everyone in the room. Satch obviousely pleased with this just let himself enjoy the moment and jam a lot during his songs, with extended intros and outros and he did an excellent job. I'd never heard the outro he did for Always with me, always with you. He kicked off with Hands in the air, played 6 songs from the new album and I enjoyed them much more live, he also played war, the bluesy cool #9, flying in a blue dream and of course the song i knew he had to play Satch Boogie. He seemed to enjoy himself was jumping around for a while and bobbing his head and also said how he loved playing the apollo as he felt he could jam. I wouldn't have minded a few more songs from Satch though such as Rubina and the extremist.

Finally they finished doing a jam, starting with satch's Ice 9, Fripp sitting in his dark corner at the back still so it was mostly Vai and Satch stealing the show. The other songs they jammed on were Red by king crimson which I didn't know, Steve Vai's song murder which I didn't know either and finally Rockin in the free world which Satch sung, all good jams but rockin in the free world was definately the best. I'd definatelky like to see G3 again, though I'd rather have someone who's not as shy as fripp next time, Slash would be a great choice. I'd also like to see Satriani on his own sometime, so hopefully he will come to the apollo on his own next year.

My son and I really enjoyed this gig. Joe seemed to really enjoy himself, I have never seem him quite so animated whilst playing.

The only complaint I have is that the mix sounded really unclear from the back, with the guitar overshadowing everything.

Other than that the gig was brilliant.

Keep on keeping on Joe!!

This was my First G3 concert i had been to, and i was not disapointed. The stage set up was great and the view from where i was sat was really good and clear. The first man to attend the stage (well, sit in the corner) was Robert Fripp. I must admit i was very bored 'watching' and listening to his music. I think he was trying to be all arty and what not, but from where i was sat it did'nt actually look like he was playing anything at all. Boredom hit me quite fast when he was half way through the first song. After Fripps exit came on the magnificent Steve Vai, who for me stole the show. He did a great selection of songs and his stage presence and performance ability was amazing. The best song he did was 'Juice' in my opinion, was really good and performed really well. After the Interval came on Fripp again, luckily he only played for a minute and then Satriani came to the stage. To see Satriani in the same room as me was amazing but i was quite dissapointed with his set. He did a few classics which i liked (always with me, Blue dream, Cool#9, satch boogie), but also did way too many new ones. I can understand he wanted to get the new stuff out there and played but there was'nt that much of a balance between old and new. The G3 jam was cool, Fripp is a great player when he 'plays' and Vai and Satch both played amazingly. Overall, the gig was ace. Vai stole the show, Satch was great and Fripp was ok ( Only in the G3 Jam, the individual performance was nasty).

Ben

OH MY GOD MAN...

Joe Satriani...What a gig Joe was amazing the best i have ever see him play, Is The Love In Space, War and Then Flying In A Blue Dream. What an order, The songs of the new album are fantasic live as on the cd. I dont think Joe reconized me as when i met him on theS>B>M tour i had Bleched Blond Hair, But I was there Satch righ at the front snaping away with my camra getting down To the songs. I was a bit sad i did not get to meet him again, im sure there will be more chances...

Steve Vai.... Man That Was A fantastic set list, Man the way Tony started of For The Love Of God on keyboards was Amazing and Wispering A Prayer made me cry. And having been there all day (at one point in his tour bus showing him how i can play For Love Of God ( when he asked me to show him) and then him showing me parts ) What a day all album covers singed my guitar and i even got a pick he threw at me at the end of his set. And the whole playing each other's guitar thing My girlfriend (Frankie) went MAD OVER after me making her watch it 1000000's of time on DVD was amazing, and when Dave Weiner phoned my girlfriend for me from my mobile was so funny. and Vai rang my mate (Ian) at work for me, WHAT A DAY...

Robert Fripp... ??????????????? Did'nt quite get his vibe up there, and did'nt see much of him over there in the corner...

G3.... Amazing, The chance to see Satch and Vai on the same stage was out of this world... NOW THAT'S WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF...

Dave Wren xxx

Just come back from the G3 gig in Manchester. It's my first G3 gig I've been to and it's been one heck of a concert. Satch and Mr Vai. Thank you very much for your performance. You guys are the best.

Robert Fripp came on first playing with some ambient music. I thought he was a guitar tech until later on. A few people didn't realise it was him and the audience wasn't set at this point.

Steve Vai came on after with his 3 neck Ibanez playing some of the songs on the g3 DVD and a few others such as Whispering a Prayer and For the love of god. Fantastic, and he had a cold as well. Satch's performance was just as amazing playing 6 songs from his 'Is There Love In Space album'. He stormed in playing Hands In the Air. That was awesome. They sounded even better live. Satch and Vai both played roughly 18 songs between them. I really lost count.

The trio jam at the end was more like a duet but that was good enough for me. Robert Fripp sat at the back corner. The 3 songs were Ice 9, a song from King Crimson and Rockin In the Free World.

Hats off to you guys. See you next year.

We all know the deal with Fripp's set - repeated sustained notes over and over... it's interesting, but there's nothing stopping you going to the bar since he's on first. There was one bit where he briefly played some glittery arpeggios and at the end it got more dissonant, but it was pretty much just the same thing. \\

I'm not a huge Vai fan but he obviously puts on a great show. Broke a string on the first song so improv'd some ridiculous whammying. His band were very impressive. Of course For the Love of God finished his set awesomely. \\ Satch's set in order: Hands in the Air, Satch Boogie, Cool #9, Gnaah, I like the Rain, Up in Flames, Always With Me (Quite an extended end), Searching, Is There Love in Space, War, Flying in a Blue Dream For some reason everyone decided to stand up for Satch's set! Fripp seemed to come on at least by Is There Love in Space, and double the rhythm parts mostly. He was certainly playing the riff to War. \\ Ice 9 - Fripp really shredded it up, to the surprise of many who had only experienced him from his soundscapes!

Red - An interesting rework of the KC song - the intro ascend was replaced with the melody from Court of the Crimson King, the "pre-chorus" was made a lot more groovy and the bridge section's bassline simplified a lot for the soloing. Fripp's solo here was a chaotic chromatic thing, Satch and Vai did great solos, quite surreal seeing it actually!

Vai had a relatively brief song leading into Rockin' in the Free World, all three put out wonderful solos there. Mad unison part in the middle with Satch and Vai.

Thanks to whoever handed me the pick after Searching!

We didn't arrive till nearly 8.00pm and had missed most of the first 'G', Robert Fripp who, on first glance, looked like a guitar tech!! (Sorry Robert!). He was playing some ambient stuff and from where we were, we had a pretty good view of him, and he didn't appear to be playing anything over the track! (I'm sure he was though). It was partially ruined by some idiot shouting that England were 1-nil up against Portugal. On the whole he went down reasonably well, but we ended up having to ask if it had been him! Steve was outstandingly good, and he seems to bring out the best in his fellow musicians, with two other guitarists backing him up as well as the awsome bass player and drummer! - Fantastic stuff. Again he had a couple of problems, namely his 3-guitar beast breaking a string and one of his effects had been unplugged by mistake. It did not detract from his performance though - AWESOME! Joe was also on exceedingly fine form, (as usual), and blasted out some of the stuff from the new album as well as some of the old favourites (flying in a blue dream and 'always with me, always with you' to name two). The jam session was excellent, and as I've never heard King Crimson before, the song red certainly gave me an insight, we also saw Robert playing some amazing stuff. It's only a pity that he didn't come forward from his position at the back of the stage. There's no doubt he can play, so why didn't the guy step up!?

What can I say, Brilliant, brilliant, Brilliant!!! - Thanks guys, looking forward to seeing you again!

Just wanted to write a short review of this gig - I only just got back and it is midnight!

We arrived at about 7:30 and the doors were open. Upon finding our seats (front row centre ;)) we looked at the stage and saw this old guy in the back corner of the stage sitting down. He just sat there with a Les Paul and proceeded to "play". Reason I say "play" is because there was some ambient music and what he was playing didn't match it. It was hard to see him and he made no introduction. This went on until about 8:10 where he went off stage. People were saying "was that a guitar tech?" - no, it was Robert Fripp.

Steve Vai then came on and said he had a cold, so asked us to forgive him for blowing his nose all the time then whipped out his triple neck guitar. About 5 mins into the song, he snapped a string on it so his tech handed him EEEEEEEEEEVOOOOOOO (I thought Evo was retired?). They continued the song. Julia was positively wet from gawping at Mr Vai and his flowing in the wind hair and after a few songs, Vai threw a plectrum our way and there was a scuffle of people trying to find it. Excellent set. At the end of the set there was a brief 15min break where Julia, to the horror of those around us, found the pick Steve tossed at us ;)

Joe came on and blew everyone away playing a load of songs from ITLIS and some oldies like War, FIABD, AWMAWY etc People were now standing up and getting to the grove! He was pretty energetic - even stood on the drummers platform and jumped off. He had his JS1200, JS1000WH and a squiggly JS guitar... But he also had another red guitar that looked like it was transparent red - was gorgeous.

Now, after Joe finished, Julia and I went home - I have a stinking cold and spent most of the night spluttering into various tissues :( So we left just before the Jam - which in all honesty, it's basically Joe and Steve noodling with Robert Fripp "playing".

So in conclusion - it was more like G2 and not G3. Robert Fripp was a SEVERE disappointment and I wish he wasn't there. He was way outta place. Why couldn't they have got someone else who is an instrumental rock guitarist - heck, maybe even let Tony McAlpine have a solo set?

Oh, they were also selling Dave Weiners CD there, but it was sold out when I went to buy it :(

The pics I took are here: Be warned, they didn't come out too great :/

http://www.satch-list.com/2004-06-24_-_G3/

James