Joe Satriani

They don’t always open all four levels at the Bush – Joe Bonamassa, Gaslight Anthem, Patti Smith – but they had all 4 packed to the gunnels for Satriani, ‘Satch’, last night and from the heaving stalls to those perched very precariously in the gods they were treated to Satriani at his best.

Last time he was here, for 2010’s ‘Wormholes & Wizards’ tour, his London show was at Hammy Odeon but the closer confines of Shepherds Bush seemed to suit him better as the crowd were able to see all the smiles and asides and get the feeling of the closeness between him and his band. Behind the impenetrable Oakley shades he looks like a man who enjoys playing and that really came over last night.

What always surprises me about Satriani is how much soul there is in his music – geek soul maybe but soul nonetheless. Sure, he rips out riffs that 99% of guitarists couldn’t imagine and couldn’t play even if they did, he creates soundscapes and vistas of noise and never troubles the audience with vocals but under it all there is more than the techno-nerd – he produces music that does hit the emotional buttons and the passion comes through his fingers like no-one else on the planet.
He has also started to involve the band more – maybe a hangover from Chickenfoot where he actually was a part of a band and overshadowed by Sammy Hagar as the front man although he played with Deep Purple for a while as well. Mike Keneally, his keyboard player, actually matched him a number of times with guitar and both Jeff Campitelli (drums) and Allen Whitman (bass) were given a chance to shine – Whitman actually had more fx pedals than Satriani!
He played tracks from all over his career but especially the new album ‘Unstoppable Momentum’ and ‘Wormholes …’, swapping guitars and styles with ease in a nearly two hour set.

If you are a fan then you were probably there or at one of his other shows around the country and the capacity mob last night were all fans – if not at the start then at the close.


|Satriani picture by Stephen Fourie