Guitar luminary Joe Satrinai made his annual tour trek to the campus at the University of Buffalo this past weekend; The Center for the Arts stage served as the perfect realm for the student & maestro of the art of guitar to cascade his brilliance over the ardent crowd.
Known by many in the music Industry as the quintessential guitar hero, Satriani has mentored some of the planets premier players including Steve Vai whom Satriani ultimately tabbed to join his inaugural G3 Tour, which Satch founded in 1995. Other notable mentions include Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows and Kevin Casdogan of Third Eye Blind.
It seems almost inconceivable that the Westbury, New York native has been shredding strings for over three decades. Touring in support of his fifteenth studio album, “Shockwave Supernova,” this latest collection of songs only adds to his already potent arsenal of material since his 1986 debut album.
The evening’s opus began with the title track from his latest endeavor; from there the expedition through his colossal catalog in celebration of his thirty years commenced. Satriani’s ability to surpass listener expectations both live and in studio without the alliance of lyrics is an abstract talent, further mystified by his trademark dark glasses and stealth stage persona in the live setting.
The man of few words only chose to speak on a few occasions throughout the evening; the first being a dedication to his fans introducing the song “Friends” from the 1992 “The Extremist” album, produced by Andy Johns.
The second was to introduce the stellar band of world class musicians whom also joined Satch in studio for the recording of “Shockwave Supernova” who were: Mike Keneally on guitars and keyboards, Bryan Beller on bass and Marco Minnemann on drums.
Lastly, as Satriani laid a few Zeppelin and Police riffs on the crowd, he fired off a little “Smoke on the Water” to pay homage to his former band mates Deep Purple for their long overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the previous night. Satriani stepped in for Ritchie Blackmore performing with PURPLE from December 1993 through July 1994. Following the tour, Satriani was offered a permanent position in Deep Purple but graciously and thankfully declined to pursue his spectacular solo career, which should one day garner him a spot in the rock hall as well.
The shows fluid ebb and flow took fans from low tide to tidal wave spanning his three decade long career with gems like “Satch Boogie” and “Summer Song,” both of which put Satriani on the mainstream map, charting on Billboard and receiving numerous Grammy nominations. Satch managed to seamlessly weave eight tracks from “Shockwave Supernova” into the show before the guitar icon closed out the night with “Surfing with the Alien,” fortifying that his guitar playing is certainly not of this world.
The “Shockwave Supernova” tour runs through the beginning of May, at which time Satriani will return to the henhouse with his Chickenfoot cohorts Chad Smith and Michael Anthony for a few Lake Tahoe shows and a rumored new album in 2016.
Set 1:
Shockwave Supernova
Flying in a Blue Dream
Ice 9
Crystal Planet
Not of This Earth
On Peregrine Wings
Friends
Time
If I Could Fly
Butterfly and Zebra
Cataclysmic
Summer Song
Set 2:
Drum Solo
Crazy Joey
Lost in a Memory
Keyboard Solo
Luminous Flesh Giants
Always With Me, Always With You
God Is Crying (Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple cover snippet)
If There Is No Heaven
Goodbye Supernova
Satch Boogie
Encore:
Big Bad Moon
Surfing With the Alien
Photos by Gus Griesinger. We would like to thank Melissa Dragich-Cordero from MAD Ink PR for the photo pass and Dave Wedekindt from UB for the tickets to review the show.
