The last time I saw Joe Satriani was in 1990 at Vancouver’s Legendary 86 Street Music Hall, which was known for a run of great shows in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but ultimately spoiled as a venue when the brutal mishandling of patrons by its security detail and management forced its closure. Lots of live venues have come and gone since then and Vancouver has only a few great rooms left, and for his latest stop in the city Joe certainly chose wisely – the very excellent Vogue Theatre.
On Thursday night I got an email from an old friend Rob W.: “Dude – Saturday night, Satriani — VIP passes at the door with your name on them”. This very same friend and I last saw Joe together on the Flying In Blue Dream tour so the invite was a full circle thing. My Weekend was packed with personal stuff as well as business commitments and it wasn’t looking good for me to be able to attend. Luckily my wife took control of the situation as I stammered out reasons why I probably wouldn’t be able to make it, saying: “Get your ass down there and go see Joe with your friend“. It was a command — and I obeyed. (God I love this woman).
Rob and I (the two Robs) hit the event at 4:30 for a little backstage action and a tour of the rig & rigging. We listened to the line check for Joe and the soundcheck for the opening act, Big Sugar Alumni Gordie Johnson and Stephane Beaudin’s new project, Sit Down Servant. Watching the two of them soundcheck was only suggestive of what their later set would be, which I’ll quickly tease as stellar.
Joe made his way in around 6:30 for a little meet and greet action – watching him chatting and posing with fans, signing guitars and posters, was very cool. If ever a man’s personality was matched to his music, it’s Joe’s. He was gracious, and gentle with all, but also had a kinetic energy that you knew he was holding back to unleash on the stage.
Sit Down Servant opened up the night with a version of In My Time of Dying. Gordie sat at the steel guitar playing slide and singing, and triggered body penetrating bass notes from the Moog Pedals at his feet (I think he was rocking a Taurus 3) while Stephane Beaudin laid down a really slow, almost falling into the beat groove that was heavy on kick without being overly dominant, and did some great textured cymbal work through the set. For two guys the sound was huge. Their 30 minute set was like a calling to prayer and I can only imagine what 90 minutes would have afforded them. Their album for this project is a fine work, but this is a band that you need to see and feel in a live venue. Joe’s crowd was great for them because you didn’t have the drunken louts screaming nonsense so the music had time to breath, intimacy had time to develop, and their set left all with a feeling of reverence for the music — and for music itself. Like I said — a great fit with this particular crowd. Very music focused – I loved it. Respect.
Joe hit the stage round 9:00 launching into Jump-In, the first song of his 20 song, two hour set. He was met with enormous enthusiasm from all, and sonically he sounded amazing. His pedalboard was relatively stripped down from tours past and his signature sound had a depth not often heard. Whatever he and guitar tech Mike Manning have put together for this tour gets top marks because he punched through the mix with incredible highs while having enormous balls of tone that rattled the bones when necessary.
With him was Drummer Marco Minnemann, , Bryan Beller (bass) and Mike Keneally (keys & guitar). Keneally, to me, was an enormous surprise. Looking part History Professor, and part Mountain Man, I could imagine him drinking whiskey in a mountain cabin while reading lyric poetry or biographies about Winston Churchill. But there he was standing next to Joe, and he was a monster player in his own right – shattering any stereotype about age and what a shredtastic guitar player should look like. Technique wise he had a furious right hand. Jumping between keys and second guitar all night, when he’d lay down a break on his own, or trade licks with Joe, the crowd would go crazy. **I know nothing about him – who he is or where he came from (I’ll look it up after I finish this review) but he’s enormously cool in my book and really made me feel that the band was itself a family, and not a collection of hired guns that had been vetted through an image consultant. Totally worked and added to the authenticity of the show in my book.
Highlights of the night were Flying, Ice 9, The Crush Of Love (complete with it’s quotes of the Sly & the Family Stone If I ask you to Stay) and Summertime. Summertime was the ladies’ favorite for sure – bringing them off their feet. In truth there wasn’t a throw-away moment in the show nor were there any musical turns that lost any bit of the crowd’s attention. The show was paced perfectly and the performance peaks and pauses were perfectly threaded together. Production managers take note — this was a masterclass in how to stage a show for an artist with as large a catalog as Joe while keeping it fresh.
And fresh it was. Joe Satriani is one of the guitar’s most uniquely gifted performers. His sense of melody and the lyricism in his playing is second to none. Only Jeff Beck can carry a show like Joe can where your attention on the guitar is never fatigued. Even Steve Vai loses people during his performances but Joe had them captivated from start to finish. When you consider that this is done without a single vocal — all guitar — you’ll understand some of what still makes Joe unique in the world. It’s the strength of his songwriting and the quality of that “voice” that delivers melody and grooves to your heart. And boy can Satch ever Boogie!
The encore had a great Crowd Chanting interplay. It took them all a few seconds to figure out that they were meant to echo back the guitar lines. It was fun and seemed very natural and casual — like friends breaking into an impromptu song at the end of a great evening. And so it was. And the final group bow on the stage, low and with a Shakespearean wave to the crowd, cemented my impression of the 4-some as a troop – a family playing for us all.
Many thanks to Joe and the band, and the whole road and production crew for the great night and best wishes for the remainder of the tour – and of course my old and dear school friend Rob. If you are looking for a night out that celebrates music that will leave you smiling and inspired, make sure you catch this show. You won’t regret it I promise.
UPDATE: ** Of course after publication I looked up Keneally immediately. His connection to Satriani follows the Zappa Vai route and I remember him back in the day by reputation for having secured the gig as stunt guitarist with Zappa just prior to Zappa’s retirement from the road making him the last of the Zappa guitarist (and who’s run was cut short by the cessation of touring). Keneally is a phenomenal talent and it’s great to see and understand how he connects to Satriani. I’m very curious as to what his own voice on guitar is now. Links to his website are here