This concert was amazing-- the sound, the crowd, the playing, everything. Compared to the Tabernacle, this place was heaven. Eric and his band played awesomely (first time I've ever seen him live), and Joe and the band blew me away...he played everything flawlessly! My dad even caught one of Jeff's drumsticks after the show!!!! :-D And then of course afterwards me and my dad met Joe and Galen and Dave (I missed Jeff which made me veryyyy sad). They were all GREAT guys--they were so friendly and nice! And so was Chris, Eric's bassist. And I think I was the only young girl in the whole place haha.

This was by far the BEST concert I've ever been to!

Thank you Joe and Eric. Both had atypical shows.

First let me say I waved to Eric before the show and he didn't wave back. Oh well, I guess everyone's not an extrovert! However, Eric made a few jokes about taking less time to record and his slightly out of tune Strat. Eric played one guitar through most of the show, a three tone Strat with a rosewood fretboard which had a warmer tone on the high notes. Then He switched to a black STRAT with a maple fretboard, I wondered why he didn't play his signature Strat? The Cliffs of Dover song sounded spot on with "Blackie". One thing I've noticed that even if Eric plays Jimi Hendrix’s "Love or Confusion" Eric still sounds and plays like Eric (which is a good thing). The Rocktopus song, which Eric gave writing honors to his bass player, was lackluster for the first 4-5 minutes but after the stop when the audience clapped in relief for the song to be over they started again and this time Eric attacked the song with fire and really made it interesting for the next 2 minutes of soloing. Yes, Eric did miss a few notes here and there which proves he was human, and I would guess if any one of us were up there we would miss quite a few more even on good nights!

Now on to Joe, hope you are reading this, I really enjoyed your show, it was even more engaging and on fire than the set you did on G3 tour I saw in Nashville. I noticed your guitar became louder as the night went on and the distortion to me was breaking up too much when you used the white guitar in the first part of the set. The Red guitar had a nice smooth tone, I would guess that has the MOJOE bridge and the other hotter FRED as well. Some of your Jams were VERY GOOD like the ICE 9 Jam you tacked on to the end of the song. Dave LaRue I believe has given you the freedom to focus your energy into being excited about what you play and that is a thing without price! Jeff Campitelli and Dave LaRue also had some syncopated rhythms worked out for some of your feed back endings that really kept the interest up while you did your ending the song thing. I would have liked to see some songs off of the Strange Beautiful Music album as well. I wonder if you don't like that album or read a bad review of it that keeps you from playing those songs live. Whatever the cause PLEASE reconsider as I humbly request you play more from that album! Also in the G3 show I saw you play midnight and I would love for you to play songs just by yourself that feature the tapping technique (I know you can do it!). I would even love to hear you play Brother John live sometime as I love that song from Not of This Earth.

Now on to the PLATINUM EXPERIENCE:

While waiting for Joe to show up Dave LaRue popped by and signed my Laminate and I talked with him about the difference with playing with Joe and playing with Steve in the Dixie Dregs. Dave was very pleasant and seemed happy because of his extremely good show that night. Also, Jeff Campitelli dropped by and signed my Laminate and I asked him about pulling his laptop out during the CROWD song in rehearsals and we had a good laugh about that. He was also very pumped and very friendly person. The Rhythm fellow ran a distance away from us and ignored/ avoided our crowd. I then thought how unhappy he looked the whole night as opposed Dave and Jeff and Joe.

Now the BIG DEAL...Meeting the Legend the MAN, JOE!!!

This was my first time seeing Joe play live, as well as Eric. I believe Eric had a few missed notes during the night, but pulled through and overcame those mistakes that pretty much everyone has from time to time. I believe that his set list could have been a little better. On the good side, he still played incredibly above most players' potential, his tone was a great clean atmosphere setting tone and his mastery of crazy chordal structure was shown. He did appear to be more layed back than his reputation and seemed to be trying to have more fun and even popped off a joke or two. I'd like to see more of this interaction in the future.

Joe's playing was incredible and as a recording guitarist, I was impressed with just how tight the band played. His tone was not spot on as the records on a few tracks, and he mentioned to me after the show that they had a couple of pedals break and had to improvise. Well, good job Joe, your tone was great even without the exact equipment you needed! I really enjoyed Joe jamming out on Circles and a couple of other songs and would encourage him to do more of that. Campitelli's drumming was awesome and punched through the mix very well. The new bass player, Dave LaRue was very tight and brought some energy of his own to the show. The rythm guitar was a little low in the mix. In fact, the only time I heard it was when Joe quit playing notes a couple of times. But, I was so focused on Joe that I didn't care too much. It was a high energy show and these guys rocked tha' house!

Regarding the platinum passes: It was really cool to meet Joe which I suppose many people will never have the opportunity to do. Joe seems to be a very personable guy and down to earth to talk too. The platinum shirts for the tour look pretty good. A couple of critiques though. The package contained a "thin" pick. Maybe that is just for a picture frame? This won't matter to most people I guess, but I doubt Joe ever uses a thin pick, I don't. I kinda expected to get the exact pick he plays with for the cost of the platinum package. The other thing is that for the cost of the package, I would have liked to be with the other purchasers and Joe for maybe a half hour or more in more of a room/group setting. I like a group setting where you have more time to gather your thoughts and interact with Joe as you remember things you would like to ask, and also hear the interaction with the other fans on things you probably wish you'd asked! That would be perfect! But, I also understand that time restraints for the whole crew might make that too much for them as they have a lot to do to get the show ready in a short time. Those guys were up pretty late and had to go on to New Orleans to play the next evening! Tight Schedule! However, I feel that for the price, I don't believe that is asking too much. Nevertheless, I had a great time and will see Joe's show again if I get the chance. I really wish he would play more stuff (other than Starry Night) from Strange Beautiful Music, and my friend Tony P. and I really don't understand why he doesn't. Joe, That's great stuff man!! There were several people there with that tour's shirts on who love that album, but they remain where I am, ...hopeful that Joe will remember that album and play Oriental Melody, Chords of Life, Belly Dancer, The Traveler, and maybe one or two others from that album.

Conclusion: The Variety Playhouse was a decent place to see Joe play (Would've been GREAT if the front seats hadn't have broken). Eric's playing was great, and Joe's was pretty much spot on incredible (the best version of Cool #9 I've ever heard him play). The band was tight, but rythm guitar too low in mix. Other than that the mix was extremely good. Joe, Jeff, and LaRue sounded excellent. Platinum Package was a fun one-time experience, but maybe a little too pricey for a repeat experience. Others may have a different perspective. Overall, this is one of the best shows one can go see live. It is stunning to watch Joe with his command of the fretboard explode with little to no mistake apparent. Jeff Campitelli is a fantastic drummer and sets a great pocket with LaRue to groove away to. I'm glad I've lived to see them play! It was an inspiration to continue learning and growing in my own playing. I got to tell Joe about a tragedy that occurred in my life that caused me to put down the guitar years ago, and how his music and Vai's had been introduced to me about 2 years ago and had caused me to pick the guitar back up and had reinvigorated my appreciation for music. It was a rediscovery. Joe told me that you have to keep pushing through. Thanks Joe! I'll take that to heart. Loved the show and look forward to seeing you next time.

Fantastic show!

This was the first time I had ever seen Eric Johnson play live and, being a big fan of his, it was absolutely stunning. Every song he played was pitch perfect and dead on. My only complaint was that he only got to play for an hour--I could have easily listened to him for longer.

Joe Satriani toar the place down with his playing, as usual.

This is my fourth time seeing Joe, and I have to say it's been my favorite show thus far. His live performances are consistently awesome, and last night was no exception. The complaints about the set list are not valid. I seem to recall seeing Joe Satriani play a set full of surprises last year (with Strange, Moroccan Sunset, Motorcycle Driver, etc) on the "Evening With..." tour. Joe has an extensive catalogue of songs to choose from now, and to please everyone he'd have to play for days straight--so quit the bitching about it. Last night's set list contained beautiful new songs from the new album never heard before, and classics we all know and love.

If you're reading Joe--thanks so much! Keep coming to Atlanta and rocking out with us!

This is my first time to see Satch in concert and I loved the whole experience. Being an amature drummer I keyed in on Jeff Campitelli alot. What struck me hardest about Jeff is that he made what he did look effortless (even thought it wasn't). The Satriani/Johnson combination is a winner!

Joe thanks for the good time. Looking forward to the next time.

Just amazing.

This is my second time seeing Joe live, I've seen Eric play at the same venue last year. Eric's set was awesome but I was hoping he would play Manhattan. It was really funny when he said "Now we are going to play the tuning song." Anyways, Eric was awesome like always. Joe's set was great, but I wished he would play some stuff off Crystal Planet. The crowd surfing guy was funny, specially when he got carried away by that big security guy, also there was another man trying to surf but people just dropped him, come on now, this is Joe Satriani concert, not Metallica. Oh yeah, the signed poster rocks!

I saw Joe play the variety last night, and it was everything I was hoping to see, and way more.

Eric johnson was superb, and was a great way to open up. The last song was amazing, as were all the other songs. He had a great sense of humor, and his drummer was one of the best I've ever seen.

Joe opened up with "flying in a blue dream" and completely owned for the rest of the night. The legato section in "Cool #9" was absolutely stunning, as always, and in one of the songs, (I forget which) a fan even got up and went crowd surfing, and was carried to the stage, to be caught by the husky security guard, who threw him back. The encore, Crowd Chant, was very fun, as we got to yell our brains out agains Joe's guitar, lick for lick. But the highlight of my night had to be when I caught a pick thrown into the crowd, and even turned down an offer of $100 from the man behind me. It's up on my bedroom wall right now, along with the ticket. Thank you, Joe, for giving the best concert I've ever seen.

(Apparently I was wrong about Manhattan. I actually don't listen to a lot of Eric Johnson, but knew that was one of his big songs. The last song he played was met with uproar, which gave me the idea, and I asked my friend next to me if that was Manhattan, and he told me yes. Sorry for the mistake there, I was wrong, but there really wasn't a need to immediately assume I'm a dumbass and 10 years old for making a small mistake like that, and then have the nerve to edit his review to tell me so, which shows how much he knows about common decency.)