show review
tonybagodonuts Wed Aug 18 '04
110
PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel,
Rank: 10 Posted: Tue Aug 24, '04 10:40 am

Anthony Gagliano a.k.a Tony Bag O Donuts on www.satriani.com rates this show a 10 along with the meet & greet with Joe Satriani!!!

*** First things first, the "meet & greet" with Joe Satriani, Galen & Matt would not have been possible if not for Joe's good friend Bob Fratti. He even had an assistant call me the day before the show to make sure I got all my goodies in the mail & confirmed where I had to meet Bob after Satch's gig. Bob you were so helpful & organized. It made all the difference to keep the meet & greet fun. We are all so thankful for the time you gave us with Joe, Matt & Galen! I hope to see you again down the road at "An Evening with Joe Satriani" in the very near future. You ARE the BEST Bob:-)

Thin Lizzy was great! John Sykes is such a professional. He adds a lot to that band. Also the drummer was all about the high energy! They were really loud of course, but that's what they make earplugs for:-)

Next came my favorite, Joe Satriani!!! I was lucky enough to be a part of the "special meet & greet" & let me tell you it was well worth it. The highlight was meeting three of my musical heroes Joe, Matt & Galen! Jeff might have hurt his leg after the show & could not attend according to Matt. Jeff we hope you are well:-) I talked with Galen first & he was so gracious & friendly. You are top notch Galen! Thanks for explaining the "hard-hat/ Malmsteen" connection with Matt! I am happy we talked about Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater Florida, also another great venue to play at...Satch Fans please unite & keep searching for "Pearly" which is still missing!!!

Joe also answered so many questions from all of us & took pictures with us too! I am so glad Joe wanted to hear from the fans on new songs to play that they have either never played live or rarely play like Psycho Monkey, Oriental Melody, etc. PLEASE play them live soon... Thanks to Joe & the Band for an experience we will all remember. I even got to hold Joe's Margarita while he signed my VIP Badge!!! Joe usually has one of those made by his wife Rubina after each show! I also had a really nice chat with Matt who was so cool, sincere & my favorite bass player! I was so happy to hear "War" from the Extremist CD from back in the day with Matt pounding on bass! Matt you are so cool, & yes that little kid (9 years old) does look like Steve Via's boy... I hope he wasn't kid-napped... LMAO

Now on to Joe's set list: Hands in the Air Satch Boogie Cool #9 GNAHHH I Like the Rain Up in Flames Is There Love in Space? War Flying in a Blue Dream! Always with Me Always with You

Great to hear some of the new tunes, they rock!!! The red glasses were a nice touch with the red guitar Joe! Only a few technical problems on Satch Boogie, the guitar wouldn't scream as high as Joe normally takes it, but those things happen from time to time as Joe explained to all of us. Cool #9 had an entirely new intro & was tasty as always. It's simply a great song where all the guys in the band can improvise/solo, etc. Flying in a Blue Dream is my favorite song by Joe & he shredded it up along with Matt, Galen, & Jeff.

For the last song, Joe brought in a friend from New Jersey and that guy played a fretless fender! They sang and played Down, Down, Down (this song was jammed on the G3 dvd with eric johnson) They played amazingly.

Once the "meet & greet was over", they stayed with us for 90 minutes, I left to see Purple because I hadn't seen them in many moons. Wow after all these years they still have the power in their music. Steve Morse was incredible!!! He smiles a lot while playing. Hush was powerful and the wonderful instrumental off Banana's dedicated to the space crew of apollo, Contact Lost. They finished it off with Speed King which had a jam session that just cooked!!!! Also worth mentioning was the sing along with Ian Gillian and Steve Morse's guitar. It was funny at one point Steve played a lick and Ian was singing it out... & when the lick/note was too high/hard & Ian just started cracking up on stage which was really funny! All in all they finished up with a big bang! Great concert.

guitarmiester Wed Aug 18 '04
110
PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel,
Rank: 9 Posted: Mon Aug 23, '04 5:00 pm
It got to be almost 7, Thin Lizzy came on, in my opinion, they sucked!!! 1st, they were toooo loud, it sounded terrible, I thought someone would have fixed it after a soundcheck, maybe they wanted it really loud because they suck and wanted to cover up how bad they are. I don't think the band sucks, but they're performance was terrible, mainly because they sounded horrible because they were way too loud! Also, they speeded up about every song, which just about killed them!!! The singer was pretty good at guitar, but he kept playing the exact same pinch harmonic every few seconds in every song!!! It was so annoying to hear the exact same pinch harmonic being put into different places of each songs, it really got annoying! There weren't many people at all for when Thin Lizzy was playing, the singer seemed mad because the crowd wasn't giving them much support at all. I could have went without seeing them. Their last song they played was "the boys are back in town", everyone started pouring in for Joe Satriani! Once Satriani was up it was amazing, he is the best guitarist! His set was awesome, his set wasn't super loud like Thin Lizzy's. I have to see him again, JOE COME BACK TO NEW JERSEY!!!! Satriani was amazing, he was the main reason I bought tickets, to finally see him live, and after his performance, I have to see him live again! He literally made people in the audience just stare at him in awe!!! He totally blew away the entire crowd with his lightning fast solos and his melodic riffs/solos. Once he finished, Deep Purple came on, I am not a big fan of Deep Purple, but they are really, really good, Steve Morse is an awesome guitarist!!! Like the 2nd or 3rd song, something went wrong with Steve's guitar or amps? He wasn't getting any sound, and it was right when he was supposed to solo! The keyboardist covered for him, he soloed until he saw Steve Morse come back on stage with working amps and guitar. It took a few minutes for him to get whatever happened fixed, I think it was an amp problem, one of his heads, not too sure? They are an insane band, very talented guys. They had an awesome set too, not super loud. Steve Morse played one insane instrumental song that was amazing! The concert was awesome, I think they should have gotten rid of Thin Lizzy and gave Satriani and Deep Purple a longer playing time, then the show would have been even better! Most of the people were there to see Satriani and Deep Purple, not many were there for Thin Lizzy. I think most would agree that Thin Lizzy was way too loud, they speeded everything up and just sounded horrible so loud, so they are the reason I have to give the show a 9, if I didn't see them play, I would have given the show a 10, because Satriani and Deep Purple put on the best show I've ever seen!!!! A rank for each band would be--- Satriani definitly a 10 --- Deep Purple a 10 too, they were awesome---- and Thin Lizzy a 4.5. They would have been better if they didn't speed everything up and if they would have turned the volume down, they seemed like a good band, but those few things ruined their entire performance. JOE SATRIANI-----COME BACK TO NEW JERSEY AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

darkangel707 Wed Aug 18 '04
110
PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel,
Rank: 9 Posted: Sat Aug 21, '04 5:52 pm
Yo!! Fellow Satch Fans!! , This was my first ever Concert of an international artist as i am not from the states and also first time seeing Lizzy, Joe and purple! oh what an amazing show!!!... To start off with Lizzy they opened up with Jailbreak they were really good but maan were they loud! i was warned to get ear plugs so i did. It helped.. Lizzy played for just about half an hour. They were powerful in their music. But the loudness did make them unclear. After them they were changing all the equipment and suddenly the crowd goes wild! and i lifted my head and got a glimps of satch's head backstage! After about 10 mins Satch came in with his Js1200 and silver strap on and his Red Sunglasses! damn and he started off with Hands in the Air! bouning from side to side (which i have never seen joe move like before) it was awesome. he did satch boogie next ( think not sure of theentire song order). Such brilliance and effortless playing! An amazingly funky intro for Cool #9 followed, GNAHHH, I Like the Rain (great vocals!) , and Up in Flames. there was a 3 song medely kept together by feedback, Is There Love in Space?-War (he held the feedback sustain and the blue lights just dropped in which was gooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrgeous!!!!!!)-Flying in a Blue Dream! He brought out the Js100 WHite just like the one he used on the always with me always with you video! and there he played my favourite! song !!! oh man! that was gorgeous! and the ending had a dreamy but majestic feeling extended like the one on the live in sanfransisco dvd. Sadly he didn't use the chrome boy! this time but the Candy Apple red 1200 was just as hot! This time there was a special ending. He brought in a friend from New Jersey and that guy played a fretless fender! and awesome playing. They Sang and played Down, Down, Down (this song was jammed on the G3 dvd with eric johnson) They played amazingly. After the act was my glorious moment! of MEETING JOE BACKSTAGE!!! AHHHH that was a dream come true!... I even gave him a Metal CD from the band that made history in my country and he appreciated it much! (JOE IF U READ THIS PLEASE E-MAIL ME AND LET ME KNOW WHAT U THINK OF THE ALBUM! WE ARE DYING TO KNOW!) Also i spoke to Galen Henson he was cool! very friendly! i got a couple of my stuff signed too by both of them! which was just awesome! I even got a pick from galen !!! Oh man that was just amazing!!! Deep Purple had already started playing by that time they started off with Hous of Pain from the Banana's album! I missed about four songs of theirs. I left to see Purple because i hadn't seen them before either. Wow after all these years they still have the power in their music. Steve morse was incredible!!! He smiles a lot while playing and was smiling with the right and side of the audience close to the stage i wonder y! haha! Don Airey is just as good as their old keybord player and he played the simpsons theme and the oh so traditional outro by Jon Lord (i don't know what its called). They played Smoke on the water! ahh now great crowd participation!! "Smoke on the water!! & Fire in the Sky!" They played perfect strangers, Hush and the wonderful instrumental off Banana's dedicated to the space crue of apollo (i forget which apollo) Contact Lost. They finished it off with Speed king which had an amazing jam session!!!! Also the sing along with Ian Gillian and Steve morse's guitar was good and funny as one point Steve played a lick and Ian was singing it out. and one certain lick was too hard. .and Ian just started cracking up on stage which was just soo funny! hahahah. All in all they finished up with a big bang! Great concert.. At first the audience was practically empty for lizzy but Satriani just came on stage and the crowd just got on their feet and it was almost packeD! ubelievable!!!! performance and on behalf of the Sri Lankan Fans Joe You Rock as always!!! Please come to Sri Lanka! Galen said that you guys are touring that area of asia so i think our Rock-Company Inc. is going to appeal to you guys to see if they can get you down so we shall see!!! Rock On!!! A must see concert! the show i'd give a complete 9. Lizzy i would say was a 7.5 and deep purple a 10.8!!!! But for Joe's performance on a scale of 1-10 an 11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!