>It was a warm afternoon. We had just driven 6 hours to see G3 in Portland. We got lost, but finally arrived. We walked in, got our ‘meet & greet’ stickers, and we were in. It was the usual atmosphere of a rock concert and I loved it! As we turned the corner and saw the stage, my body filled with adrenaline. I could’ve jumped to the moon, but being at a Vai concert, I was much higher. For the whole drive over to Portland, my friend had been talking about what he called “the Vai experience”. He tried to explain how when Mr. Vai walks out on stage, everyone has this unexplainable feeling of excitement. But we couldn’t understand until it really happened. Kenny Wayne Shepherd finished his set in which he played the most incredible version of the old Hendrix tune “Voodoo Chile”. And a few minutes later we heard the air raid sirens. And out came Vai. My friends and I started doing the old “we’re not worthy” thing and Mr. Steve Vai laughed at us. It was amazing! He was actually REAL. Until this point he was a mythical figure that my friends and I would talk about and listen to his music constantly. He played awesome! I don’t remember hearing even one mistake. The best part was when he played ‘Tender Surrender’, at the end he played a little bit of “The Sound of Music”‘s ‘These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things’. It was so cool. At the end jam with the other G’s, everyone rushed the stage, and my friend and I were the leaders. I can only imagine how funny it must have looked to see three idiots simultaneously jumping above the crowd making ugly faces. Mr. Vai and KWS were both laughing at us. Thanks for inspiring young musicians like me to actually learn the guitar past the power chord lesson. By the way, that suit with the Japanese writing on the sleeve kicked some serious ass!
Jake Terry,
Eric and Shane Wintch