
Wow! This DVD was quite the extravaganza... What an Amazing show. I really must say Petrucci fit quite well with Steve and Joe, much more than I thought he would... here's my review:
John Petrucci's Set -
John played two songs off of his new solo CD "Suspended Animation" and they, believe it or not, were the two I love the most off the CD! SO as you can imagine I was completely phsyched to hear them played live... Glasgow kiss is definitely a favorite, the happy up-beat atmosphere of the tune is a wonderful way to start the show in my opinion, and as not to be too happy John followed it up with "Damage Control" which is a sweet heavy tune, very "Dream Theater" in vibe so to speak... but one of my favorites nonetheless... I love the arpeggiated ideas that flow throughout the tune. As I had expected Petrucci played them flawlessly... I still can't get over how amazing his technique is! Jeesus, sometimes I wish I was half as good as the man...
Steve Vai's Set -
Wow! Ok... I'm seriously going to have a hard time trying to put this into words... Steve IS the greatest guitarist in existance in my opinion, and to hear him in top form as always is beautiful. He and the rest of the band were on FIRE! Steve started out doing something I haven't heard him do live since 1997... The Talking Guitar Trick, making the gutiar actually "speak" to the crowd... haha. The man is ONE with his instrument. He went right into "The Audience is Listening" and I was jumping up and down in my room like jackass because I was SO phsyched to hear Steve and the band play this one...This is one of my favorite older Vai tunes, it's so Vai... it reminds me how fun guitar playing is. Steve and Billy trade licks in full form... and it kicked ass as always. And you've got to love Billy's all chrome bass and Lip stic red leather pants! How "rockstar" can one person get? By the way, you also get to see one of my favorite things... Jeremy Colsen beat the shit out of his drums... that poor drumset. And another beating takes place on Steve's bad horsie wah... he goes nuts on it! Next up was my favorite heavy tune of the new record "Building the Church." Steve brings out "mojo" on this one and rightfully so because the mojo was there in full effect. Sick ass use of the sustainer pickup in this song, I really dig it... Dave Weiner's tone on the new Ibanez through the Mesa Stilletto did a great job of nailing the rhythm tones off the album for sure. I love it when Steve goes ballistic on the bar with the sustainer on near the end... very reminiscent of Bad Horsie of the Astoria DVD, very cool. And what better way to finish off the set than K'm Pee Du Wee? So that's exactly what they did... I really dug the intro Billy Played, soothing... It was very cool. I love Steve's tone on this song as well, overdrive channel with the volume on the guitar turned way down to clean it up, and the MXR EVH phase shifter on it to get that "flow." I love this song so much... and just like the rest I was amazed to hear it played so well, Steve continues to be a tremendous inspiration to me... I'm forever in debt...
Joe Satriani's Set -
This set was very unusual for Joe... The first song "Up in Flames" was very bluesy as Satch tends to be, I dug the little Trip-Out inro on the Phsychadelic looking Satch model, It was just like one he did at Anahiem when I saw him earlier this year... Cool experimentation going on... Next up was "Searching" off his new album and it was BADASS! The red-stain Ibanez 7 souded SO THICK... damn dude... Very dark tune, I really dug it. The coolest parts for me were where he uses the Whammy pedal to play certain notes of the arpeggios up an octave and creates a melody line out of it... That is one of my all time favorite Satch riffs... and then of course a Very Yngwie move where he turns the delay repeat rate all the way up and gets massive noise... Good way to get full use of the Effects, haha. Last up was "War" and it's a very "Metal" tune... Overall It made for a very "Dark" Satch set... very modern...
And Lastly the Jams -
Foxey lady - The only thing I didn't like was not being able to hear Joe Sing, but I know how it feels because I also have an extremely limited vocal range... so it's all good. Hearing the three of them trade on this old Hendrix song was top notch! It's unusual to hear this tune played in a jam fashion... Ususally it's "Red House," or "Little Wing" but this one was cool!
La Grange - I love Billy's voice on this one, very cool. And once again, what could be better than hearing 3 world class guitarists trade licks over and old ZZ Top tune... Personally my favorite leads on this one came from Petrucci... I really had not expected him to fit THIS well it was inspiring to say the least..
Smoke on the Water - When I heard they'd be playing this one I just started laughing, because it's so typical and whatnot. But they really did a great job on it, I was really suprised to hear Matt Bisonette sing his ass off on this tune... I had no idea he could sing like that! Very, very cool... Petrucci was pulling off some Steve Morse esque licks on this tune! John's killer picking technique hit me again, JEEZUS! Machine gun attack... Vai definitely added some "Vainess" to this one with the Sweeps and Bar abuse... it was just too cool, man.
All this, Plus the bonus Soundcheck with commentary made for a BADASS G3 dvd, this one is the best yet! It completley smokes the other two with audio mix and video production, and the wall of GEAR in the back is pretty crazy as well... effects, racks, and cabs galore... Big empasis on the Video Quality too, when you watch it, look at how clear the picture is! It's beautifully done. THIS DVD RULES!!!
