Anyone who knows me will know that I have idolised Joe Satriani since I started playing guitar 20 years ago, when I first started playing “Surfing with the Alien” was out and he was just about to release “Flying In A Blue Dream”. I think my brother and I saw Joe 3 times on the “Flying...” tour, the first and most memorable for me was at the Birmingham Hummingbird, not sure what it is called these days but it used to be an intimate sticky floored venue where you were able to get very close to the action which is pretty exciting when you are 13 or 14 years old! Well I might not get quite as excitable 20 years on but I have to say it was a fantastic gig last night at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre. For a start just like all those years ago I was in the standing area near the stage and the Enmore is quite a small theatre so you’re never far from the stage.

“What is your purpose?” came blasting out over the P.A. as Joe walked onto stage, the unmistakable intro from “I Just Wanna Rock” (Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock), it is one of the cheesiest of Joe’s tracks but he had to open with it really, its a great high energy rock anthem to get things underway! I’m not going to list every song because I simply can’t remember them all but he did play a lot off the new album such as “Musterion”, “Andalusia” and “Diddle-y-a-Doo-Dat” which all sounded amazing but what had me really excited was Joe and Stu Hamm jamming on the old favourites just like those gigs at the Hummingbird and Hammersmith Apollo all those years ago! “Satch Boogie”, “Surfing With The Alien”, “Ice 9”, “Flying In A Blue Dream”, “One Big Rush”, “The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing” and epic version of “Always With Me Always With You” and some tracks from “The Extremist” album, “Summer Song”, “Cryin” and one that really suprised me “Time Machine” from the ‘93 release of the same title, it’s a great track I’m glad Joe has resurrected that one! There were also a few tracks from “Super Colossal” including “Crowd Chant” which made me laugh because of how seriously people tried to imitate Joe’s playing, have you ever heard a 6ft beer swilling rocker trying to sing Joe’s crazy whammy harmonics? It’s not a nice sound… I think Joe only wrote that song to amuse himself!

I should make a special note of Stu Hamm’s bass solo, Stu has been working with Joe Satriani for as long as I can remember and is a really fantastic bass player. His played a solo rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” which was awesome, unfortunately he then went into some crazy country thing that was all a bit too Benny Hill for my liking even though the crowd seemed to enjoy it! I think he was just having a bit of a laugh, I just prefer the technical stuff!

There were a couple of things that made this gig extra special. Firstly it was Joe’s birthday although this didn’t become apparent until after the gig, and secondly because I finally got to meet Joe and the band in an after show meet and greet!

So here is the proof me and Joe! Unfortunately he was being constantly hounded the whole time so I didn’t get to talk to him for more than about 10 seconds but I did get to chat to Stu Hamm for quite a while about his recent experience at a Birmingham City football match, Birmingham, England that is - my home town where I grew up. I also got a chance to have a quick chat with Tour Manager and Rhythm Guitarist (busy man!) Galen Henson who was really cool and the man with the most energy out of all of them, Drummer Jeff Campitelli. Jeff is a really great Drummer I was watching him play quite a lot because he seems to be into it as much as Joe, whereas you get the feeling Stu could play the whole set standing on his head and Galen tends to look a little bored at times (I would be playing the 2 chords from ‘Flying In A Blue Dream’ for 10 minutes while Joe shreds away!). This topped off a great gig, the sound wasn’t as crystal clear as I would have preferred but it was still pretty good and Joe still amazes me everytime I watch him play, aside from his incredible technique he has amazing feel and tone for a shredder and also seems to have a much more general appeal than say Steve Vai. If you are wondering whether to buy a ticket for Joe Satriani this time round don’t even hesitate this tour’s set list is too good to miss out on.

For those of you who are interested here is the entire Flickr set which some live video, more live photos and more pics of me hanging with Joe, Stu, Jeff and Galen.

Update: Regarding the rumours surrounding Joe Satriani and Sammy Hagar, Joe was happy to openly talk about it with someone backstage and said they have already written a few songs.