Did you attend this show in Helsinki, Finland?

Steve and the band would love to read your reviews!

vai.com

What an un-/fortunate evening this was...

I'll start with the negative aspects. There was something wrong with Steve's pedal board during the first couple of songs (and here and there throughout the concert) that caused the guitar sound to just disappear more times than I can remember. I don't know if they found the reason for this (maybe a bad cable, maybe) but it got fixed when it was time for the PAW part. I have to say this problem was reminiscent of a similar problem Steve had with his pedal board during the 2000 concert at Tavastia in Helsinki. This time, though, it was more persistent.

Well, when the PAW part started everything was running smoothly up until Erotic Nightmares when the PA system went down(!). This wasn't too big of a problem for me as the sound coming from the stage was enough to keep the good times rolling. The FOH guy didn't seem too pleased with the situation and was giving/shouting orders to (I suppose) the venue personel and throwing his hands and paper in air, which made for a good side show . They tried to get the PA running a few times during the next three or four songs but it wasn't until Ballerina (if my memory serves me well) that the problem was taken care of and the rest of the show could continue with only one minor hick-up to come. I suppose, judging by his body language, Steve was made aware of the situation with the PA during a guitar change but he didn't address it in any way.

The last problem with the show came at the very end of the encore when Steve was getting ready for a few final notes. He apparently noticed something wrong with the guitar he was playing and went to change guitars and played the final notes on that guitar. What the problem was (a broken string perhaps) I don't know; someone who was closer to the stage can probably chip in.

Phew.... Even with all these problems the night was incredible! I hadn't seen Steve perform in maybe ten years and it was as magical as before, although I had ditched the front row in favor of a seat in the middle of the venue. Watching the band perform the classic album in its entirety was a dream come true; a dream I didn't even know I'd had! The guest appearances on the screens were a welcome bonus, although the Petrucci one was, visually, on the cheap side. Satriani's contribution, though, was extremely funny! The band was a bit on their toes for the whole show it seemed but that's understandable with everything that was going on.

All in all, this was a very special evening with one of the greatest guitar players in the world!

Regards,
Lauri

Previous poster summed it up pretty extensively: the show was jinxed but Steve and the band tried their best to overcome the problems.

There´s still one thing I´d like to bring up: VOLUME. The volume was overwhelming on 3-4 of the first tunes. People stuck fingers to their ears and luckily I had my -15dB earplugs on but still it was uncomfortable. I don´t mind loud gigs but this wasn´t funny anymore ´cos it messed up the sound. It got better by the time they started PAW but it was pretty bad before that.

Also, I´m not convinced that "Build me a song" is necessary anymore. I know that it´s the part of the show where the audience can participate and Steve gets to show off his comedian side (which is pretty funny) but I would have rather heard maybe two songs from "Modern Primitive" or something else.

The use of the videoscreen was cool and I enjoyed the old music videos, movie clips and the guest artists. Hearing PAW performed in it´s entirety was awesome and it evoked a wide scale of feelings and memories. There were couple of personal highlights: the tasty, jazzy improv on "Animal" and the tune I had totally forgotten, "Stevie´s Spanking".