If you have had a pulse in the past 40 years in the guitar rock scene you would obviously be extremely familiar with icons Joe Satriani & Steve Vai. I first was turned on to Steve Vai in 1984 by a Guitar Player magazine monthly sound page that came on a little acetate record included in the magazine. There was a track called “The Attitude Song” which kicked my ass when I put it on. It was from a guitarist that few people knew of at the time named Steve Vai who had played with Frank Zappa and a little-known band called Alcatraz. The song was from his solo album called Flex-Able which was a groundbreaking album in itself for guitarists. He went on to make his name famous by joining David Lee Roth’s Band and Whitesnake latter in the decade. Joe Satriani hit the scene huge with his album Surfing with The Alien which brought us such guitar gems as the title track, “Satch Boogie”, “Ice 9” and “Always with Me, Always with You”. To me both resembled Jeff Beck but in a modern instrumental guitar style, which was right up my alley. They took what Beck did further giving it a real New York attitude in their playing and composing.
Well they kicked off their tour together recently in Orlando at the Hard Rock Café Live stage and it was KILLA! Vai hit the stage first appearing out of the shadows stage right with green LED fret markers glowing on his Ibanez JEM guitar. He first played tracks from his 2022 album Inviolate as “Little Pretty”, “Teeth of the Hydra” and “Zeus in Chains.” Then he amazed everyone when he brought out his custom-made guitar “Hydra” which is a triple-neck beast. It has a 7-string neck, a 12-string neck and bass neck and if that’s not enough it boasts harp strings on the body. Steve really knows how to sell it and put on a show swinging his guitar around and freely slamming on the whammy bar. After a short intermission my man Satch came out and hit it hard exploding into “Surfing with The Alien”, “The Crush of Love” and “Sahara”. Joe’s playing was superb as always and melodic as he shredded through the set. Satch was playing through a new custom amp head and cabinet as he told me after the show. I saw a Marshall ½ stack up there, but he said that was just for back-up in case the new rig failed. When Joe’s set was done Vai came out and they played “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1” a new single that just dropped. This is just a taste from a new album they are recording together this year. They ended the night with playing “You Really Got Me” and “Enter Sandman” which got the whole crowd on their feet! Even my 15-year-old daughter loved the show and that is saying a lot because she prefers rap and hip hop. These are master players who really turn heads when they perform even after all of these years!
