I went with a couple of my band mates which took me to see this show for my birthday! Thanks Nate and Ben! You guys rock! My god, the setting was perfect! John just amazed everyone, Steve was magickal, and Joe,,,well....words can't put it into perspective if you ever seen these guys play,,,you will understand. A storm was rolling in as Steve was closing out his set,,,the thunder was on cue to his song "for the love of God",,,damn near thought I was going to wet myself,,,,Joe was on next,,,,and he started with the intro song to his new CD...and the lights and sound along with thunder from above,,,just made the night the most amazing sight and sound ever.... Neal Schone was there ( sorry if the last named was mispelled) My hat is off to all involved and to all the sound people, crew and DTE for making this night so special!

Blessing of light and sound.

Allen Garrow

What a show! It was definitely worth the 8.5 hours of driving I did to see it.

I must admit I didn't know a whole lot about John Petrucci going into the show. I was very impressed. I wish he had played longer. Due to a missing sign along the back way to DTE, we walked in while he was finishing his first song so I missed the 7-string performance. Petrucci is a very talented player with a great tone. He definitely deserves to be on stage with the likes of Vai and Satriani.

Unfortunately, Vai's sound was terrible . It was painful at times and definitely detracted from the experience (thus my 9 rating, otherwise it was 10+). I had seen him live on his own and his tone was great. Don't know what happened here. The vocals during his opening song "Shy Boy" were totally washed out. Seeing Billy Sheehan live and Mike Keneally again was a treat.

SATCH RULES LIVE! What an amazing tone! Every note was so clear and harmonically rich. I will see Joe live every chance I get. Even though I had heard everything he played on CDs, hearing and seeing it live was such an awesome, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring experience!

This was an absolutely amazing show, by far the best concert I have ever seen! It's one of those rare experiences in life for which words absolutely will not do it justice. When I first heard about this year's tour, and that it was going to be Satriani, Vai and Petrucci, I just about fell off my chair! These guys are literally, bar none, my three favorite guitarists in the world! I've been a huge Dream Theater fan for about 6 years now, so getting the chance to see John show off his skills as only he can was an amazing treat.

This was my third G3 concert, having attended one at the Palace of Auburn Hills with Eric Johnson, which was on Halloween night in, I believe, 1997. I also saw the Pine Knob show with Kenny Wayne Sheppard, which I think was in the summer of 1998. So, it had been a while since I’d had the privilege of seeing the world’s finest guitarists on stage! God was it worth the wait. I had no clue what to expect from John Petrucci, since I’m only familiar with him from Dream Theater, but I knew that, especially with him bringing along Mike Portnoy, it would be a great performance. Here, I was not disappointed. That incredible, diabolical, amazingly heavy sound John cranked out of his 7-string on the first song had me hooked right away. God, I love how he does that! When he launched into a chunk of Dream Theater’s “Erotomania” during his last song, I just about lost my mind, jamming along with my trusty air guitar, the only way I could even begin to pretend to match his technical brilliance. Too short a set, for sure! I could have watched hours of him jamming away at, well, whatever frankly, but what we got was utterly amazing.

Steve Vai’s performance reinforced what an outlandish stage presence he can be, but no matter his antics on stage, his is absolutely outstanding both in technical mastery and incredible musical composition. I know well and absolutely loved every single song in his set, especially “Giant Balls of Gold” for its awesomely heavy main riff, “Incantation” with it’s incredible three-guitar harmony, and the simply beautiful “Whispering a Prayer”, as well as the classics “Answers” and “For the Love of God”. Naturally, it would be a crime not to mention Billy Sheehan’s outstanding performance at this point. His incredible skills and mere presence so perfectly complement Steve on stage that it’s difficult to imagine one playing without the other. Why Billy couldn’t have hung around with Steve for all of the years since David Lee Roth’s Skyscraper is beyond me, but it was outstanding to see them together again.

As seems to be the consensus here, “the man” was up next. Joe Satriani is an absolute, unadulterated JOY to watch on stage. His is the performance that truly defies description for me. Where John Petrucci is technically amazing and Steve Vai appears able to play absolutely anything with no effort at all, Joe takes the best of both of these traits and combines them in a way that is all his own. I’m not sure if I can adequately describe the way that Joe seems to play effortlessly and yet put an amazing amount of effort into his performance at the same time. The best way I can think to say it is that, to me, Joe puts all of his effort on stage into the music, rather than the guitar, if that makes sense. It’s not to say that Petrucci and Vai are concentrating solely on the guitar playing for its own sake, not at all, but there’s something about the way Joe does it that’s very, very special. The audience gets the impression that he’s pouring himself into making beautiful music, rather than simply playing the guitar. It makes him much more accessible to non-musician fans, I think, while giving guys like me both the joy of hearing his incredible melodies and the jaw-dropping experience of watching him crank out lightning-fast chops, one after another.

Finally, what more can I say about the four-song encore with Neal Schon. The Hendrix songs were both outstanding, particularly when all four guys played in unison toward the end of “Little Wing”. That is a huge part of what has my ears *still* ringing 24 hours later! The audience was super jacked up during the now classic G3 song “Goin’ Down”, much more so, I thought, than previous G3 performances. I love seeing and hearing Joe sing on this song, but was a bit disappointed with the sound setup since the vocals were somewhat washed out by the sheer WALL of guitar blasting forth from the speakers.

Like I said, best concert of my life, far and away my favorite G3 performance, and the others were awful damn outstanding themselves. Thank you so much John, Steve and Joe for an amazing night that I will not forget. The next G3 cannot come soon enough for me!

Holy schnikes! I don't even know where to begin on this one. This was the best show I have ever attended (and that's after seeing Metallica, Creed, Live, and many others). The sheer talent involved with this was tremendous, so I'll break down each guitarist.

I'll admit I did not know much about John Petrucci beforehand. I knew he played for Dream Theater, but that was about it. I was VERY impressed! He was by far the heaviest of the three, and I really got into his music. His tone rules and his guitar tricks are awesome. He may have felt a bit intimidated, but he definitely held his own, both during his set and in the finale.

Vai...wow. He was the definitely the wildest of the bunch with his crazy stage presence and guitar hijinks. He came out sporting a red bandana and some leather pants and jacket, and eventually progressed to a VERY black hat. His guitar playing was immaculate. It didn't matter what kind of trick he was doing or how many spins he did onstage, he never missed a note. Truly an amazing stage presence and musician.

Next up....the man. Satch came out and played fan favorites "Cool #9", "Satch Boogie", "Summer Song", "Always With Me, Always With You", "Devil's Slide", and a variety of others. He was very polite and very gracious to his fans. No one makes it look more effortless and no one sounds better on the guitar than Joe Satriani. I also have to throw out some props to Stuart Hamm and Jeff Capitelli. I've been amazed by Hamm for a long time now, and he has quite a stage presence himself. Capitelli is a phenomenal drummer, and continued to amaze my brother and I throughout Satch's set, as well as during the finale.

And oh what a finale. With FIVE guitarists onstage, DTE exploded with applause as the men began an incredible rendition of "La Grange" by ZZ Top. The soloing was unlike anything I've ever seen, or will ever see again. The madness continued as John started the intro to "Voodoo Child." By this point I was catatonic as the guys improvised on Hendrix's masterpiece. But they weren't through with Hendrix. The relaxing intro to "Little Wing" began next, and more jaw-dropping soloing ensued. Finally, "I'm Goin' Down" was performed, and what an ending to an already impeccable performance by all.

To those who are going to see him further along on the tour and to those who have already attended a show, you'll know what I mean when I say that three of the greatest guitarists in the world are on tour, and it is THE tour of the summer.

-Bill

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! THIS WAS THE MOST INCREDIBLE CONCERT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. THE BOYS WERE ON FIRE TONITE, EVERY NOTE PERFECT IN TONE, COLOR, AND VOLUME. PETRUCCI'S SET WAS NEW MATERIAL AND I LOVED IT, THE GROOVES LAYED DOWN BY MIKE PORTNOY WERE INCREDIBLE. VAI'S SET WAS BLISTERING HIM AND SHEENAN BELONG TOGETHER. THEY DUELED A FEW TIMES AND THAT WAS A TREAT. I DIDN'T THINK ANYONE COULD REPLACE MIKE MANGINI BUT VIRGLI DONATI SURE CAME CLOSE. STAHC'S SET ALONG WITH THE JAM AT THE END CAN NOT BE DESCRIBED IN WORDS.

GREAT JOB GUYS, AXETION JACKSON