Well, here we are at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to see guitar royalty in the form of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai together in the SatchVai band. I never thought I’d see that happen. But before we get to that delight, we have a brave soul opening up tonight: Ned Evett.
I must admit I’d never heard of him before tonight, but he has quite the back catalogue. He strolls out stage left, plugs in, and—boy—can he play. He cruises through tracks like “Good News”, which has an almost Paul Simon vibe to his voice, and “Message to You”, a mellow blues tune with some lovely slide guitar from his Strange Kind of Freedom album. He ends his short set with an interesting Hendrix cover—”Are You Experienced”—which went down well with the crowd. I must admit it didn’t float my boat, but looking around, I’m most definitely in the minority as he strolls off with his unique glass guitar.
Now, the main event: two players who have known each other for nearly 50 years—Joe Satriani and Steve Vai—on their Surfing with the Hydra tour. As you’d expect, the band with them is no slouch either, featuring the fabulous Marco Mendoza on bass, Kenny Aronoff on drums, and Pete Thorn keeping things steady on rhythm guitar.
The boys open with a SatchVai tune, “I Wanna Play My Guitar”—and boy, do they ever—trading licks and clearly having a lot of fun. The studio version features Glenn Hughes on vocals, but Marco more than makes up for it tonight. An amazing start, which they follow up with another SatchVai number, “The Sea of Emotion, Pt. 1”. It’s on this one you really see why they’re playing together—definitely one of the highlights of the night as they trade off in spectacular fashion. It’s a hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment. Simply stunning.
Joe then leaves the stage to let Steve take over, playing a couple of tracks from his fabulous Inviolate album, starting with “Zeus in Chains” and followed by “Little Pretty”, setting things up nicely for Joe’s return. Together, they launch into the stunning “Ice 9 / The Crying Machine”—another highlight—simply dazzling as they weave a sonic tapestry around everyone present. All the while, they’re smiling at each other as they swap licks, with the band cruising in the wake of these two masters.
There’s just so much happening tonight it’s almost impossible to write down how good it is. Joe takes over with the mellow “Flying in a Blue Dream” before kicking it up a notch with one of everyone’s favourites, “Surfing with the Alien”. It’s absolutely killer tonight as both players seem charged up to be on stage together—either solo or in tandem.
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Joe introduces the next track as they launch into “Sahara” from The Elephants of Mars album. Joe and Steve play along together in unison at times, with the band keeping the rhythm going and taking the song to another level—just fabulous.
Back to just Steve now, and we’re treated to the laid-back, smooth, blues-infused “Tender Surrender” with its precise, clean guitar notes. Then the lights dim and something sinister, lit in red, is brought on stage. We meet the ferocious “Teeth of the Hydra”, played—of course—on a three-necked guitar. I haven’t seen Steve wield a multi-neck since I caught him with David Lee Roth back in the ’80s. It’s simply a stunning masterclass in every way.
As Joe returns and Steve exits, Joe asks the crowd if they want to boogie—and launches into “Satch Boogie” with Kenny blazing away on the drums. It’s a real foot-stomper and the tempo never lets up. Pure joy to behold.
Next is “If I Could Fly”, and Steve joins in partway through before they head into “For the Love of God”. It’s such an emotive tune, and the two trade licks throughout with some tasty bass lines from Marco. And with that, we reach the end of the main set with another favourite of mine, “Always With Me, Always With You”. The two trade guitar lines as Pete fills in the rhythm guitar gaps—as he has done all night—with amazing skill. What a way to end the set as the band wander off for the obligatory encore.
The boys return after a few minutes and launch into “Crowd Chant”, and the audience is definitely up for a singalong tonight. With the crowd pumped, the band rips into Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, with Marco once again taking on vocal duties. The band takes the song to another level before closing the night with a final cover—Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”.
As the last notes fade away, they’re replaced by cheers and applause from a crowd who’ve witnessed a musical evening on an entirely different level. Will it be repeated? I certainly hope so, as I trundle off into the night, catching my train home with a big smile on my face. What a night.
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Photos by Gary Cooper
