by: Robert Cavuoto
Joe Satriani, Phil Collen [Def Leppard], and John Petrucci [Dream Theater] are just about wrapping up a 25-date G3 Tour across the U.S. and Canada that started on January 11th and will end on February 25th.
One of the final tour stops was at the New Jersey Performing Art Center in Newark, NJ on Sunday, February 19th.
Joe Satriani has been putting on this traveling guitar extravaganza since 1996 and taking many incredibly talented guitarists out with him.
G3 is a celebration of all things guitar! Each artist comes out individually to perform their set, and then the trio meets to close out the show for the ultimate G3 Jam.
Phil Collen opened the show with a ’70s cover song “Quadrant Four” and then tore into an instrumental tune he wrote as a homage to Joe Satriani called, “Yo 2 Joe.” Debbi Blackwell-Cook (vocals) and Forrest Robinson (drums) from Phil’s side band, Delta Deep, joined him on stage for three additional songs from their CD; “Burnt Sally,” “Mistreated” and “Down in the Delta.”
You can hear smoldering live versions of these Delta Deep songs on their new CD/DVD called East Coast Live which was released January 26th.
John Petrucci performed next with his fellow Dream Theater bandmate Mike Mangini on drums. He performed a series of six songs, including one he wrote specifically for the G3 Tour called “Glassy-Eyed Zombies.” Other technically challenging songs performed by John included; “Wrath of Amazon,” “Jaw of Life” “Glasgow Kiss,” and “Damage Control.”
Joe “Satch” Satriani
Joe Satriani came out for his 55 minutes set like a fireball, opening the show with the appropriately titled song to match his mood called; “Energy.” He brought in a cool mix of songs including “Thunder,” Satch Boogie,” “Superfunky,’ and closed the set with his biggest hit; “Summer Song.”
On January 12th Joe released a new studio CD called, What Happens Next, and he performed two of them called, “Catbot” and “Cherry Blossom.”
The moment the fans were waiting for had arrived, the G3 Jam! Tonight there were a few surprises in store! Glenn Hughes who performed on Joe’s new CD came out for a hair-raising version of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star.”
It was just announced that Glenn will be doing a U.K. tour in October to perform Classic Deep Purple songs. We can all only hope he brings that tour to the U.S.! Glenn remained on stage for the final two songs; Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition,” and “Goin Down”, by Alabama State Troupers.
Debbi also joined in on vocals and Alex Skolnick of Testament, who surprised the audience of guitar fans for the last two songs. All Hell broke out on stage at New Jersey Performing Art Center in Newark – it was complete guitar-ecstasy!
PHOTO GALLERY (Robert Cavuoto)
