Guitar wizard, Joe Satriani, recently brought his thirteenth installment of the G3 experience to Boston’s legendary Orpheum Theater on February 15th. On this go-around of the US leg of the tour, Satch invited Def Leppard’s Phil Collen and Dream Theater’s John Petrucci to share the bill. Satriani headlined the night in support of his most-recent release What Happens Next. Each artist shared the spotlight with separate sets and later shared the stage for a finale that was not to be missed.
Collen was first to hit the stage. In his thirty-minute set, Collen tore through two instrumentals. A blistering cover of Billy Cobham’s “Quadrant 4” which set the bar high for the night. Collen followed up with “Yo 2 Joe”, a song that he wrote as an ode to Satriani. Collen then took a moment to introduce Debbi Blackwell-Cook, which ultimately completed the four-piece Delta Deep, a blues band that is one of Collen’s other projects outside of his bread and butter, Def Leppard. Blackwell-Cook immediately took the reins and stole some of the spotlight, sharing lead-vocals with Collen, as the band rocked through “Bless These Blues”, “Burnt Sally”, “Mistreated” by Deep Purple and “Down in the Delta.” Collen, intermittently swapped his shredding prowess for more traditional blues-based riffs and fills to mix things up. The six-song set was the total package.
John Petrucci took to the stage next. Joining Petrucci, was his bandmate from Dream Theater, Mike Mangini. It was a hometown show for Mangini, as he is originally from Newton, Massachusetts – just outside of Boston. Petrucci’s set opened with a video montage before ultimately taking the stage to shred on his seven-string guitar. He stuck to instrumentals for his six-song odyssey that included “Wrath Of The Amazons”, “Jaws Of Life”, “The Happy Song”, “Damage Control”, “Glassy-Eyed Zombies” and “Glasgow Kiss”. Petrucci played like a man possessed. He was often seen staring deeply into the abyss of fans in front of him or closing his eyes and clenching his teeth as he masterfully navigated his fretboard and strings. Petrucci didn’t waste a minute nor a note of his set.
After another short break, the man in charge took the stage, decked out with sunglasses and his trademark chromed six-string razor. Satch got right down to business with his band that included Mike Keneally (keys/guitar), Bryan Beller (bass) and Joe Travers (drums). Satriani’s set kicked off with two brand-new songs from his latest, What Happens Next. “Energy” and “Catbot” were electrifying. But, when Satch laid into the bluesy opening riff to “Satch Boogie”, he brought everyone to their feet and reminded them why he was one of their guitar heroes.
Satriani tested the waters with three more new songs that went over well. “Cherry Blossoms”, “Thunder High On The Mountain” and “Super Funky Badass” kept the set rollin’ like a locomotive. Satch reached back to 2015 for “Cataclysmic” and then came back to 2018 for “Headrush”. “Circles” and the breathtaking “Always With Me, Always With You”from Surfing with the Alien, Satriani’s breakthrough album followed. Travers got the sole spotlight for a drum solo before Satch and the rest of the band returned to wrap up his set with the straight-forward rocker, “Summer Song” from The Extremist. Satch thanked the audience and disappeared for just a moment before returning to set the encore set in motion.
Satriani triumphantly waved his hands in the air as a huge grin spread from ear to ear. He was clearly pleased with how the show had gone thus far. After catching his breath, he reintroduced Collen, Petrucci and Blackwell. Sharing handshakes, fist-pumps and smiles – this night’s configuration of G3 brought the house down with a jam-fueled finale that included Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious” and the Alabama State Troupers’ “Going Down”.
Satch, Collen and Petrucci all gave and received the gracious nods to each other to do what they do best and to weave their soloing skills throughout the aforementioned classics. Not that their individual skills were ever in question, but what truly stood out was just how well the individual styles and sounds all seamlessly worked together. All three have distinct tones and it all came together seamlessly. The guitars had their own voices during the show, but it was a wonderful addition to have the power-house, Debbi Blackwell-Cook on stage to grace the night’s performance with her dynamic vocals. She is a diamond in the rough, whose talents added many beautiful facets to the performance.
Satriani’s G3 will tour with Petrucci and Collen in the US through February 25. After a short respite, the tour will continue in Europe on March 16. The European tour will see Uli Jon Roth in place of Phil Collen. Collen will be on the road once again with Def Leppard in May for their summer tour with Journey.
