Author: Jernej Vene
Location: Villa Manin / Codroipo (Udine) / Italy
Concert date: 09.06.2008
Attendance: 2000
Ticket price: 30,00€
Whenever the chance is ripe (read: he plays somewhere near us), it’s a sin to miss a concert by guitar wizard Joe Satriani. This time, on the tour for his new record Professor Sathcafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock, he played near the Italian city of Udine. Clear skies with barely a cloud over Friuli put everyone heading to the show in a good mood. According to our photographer and driver Aleš, there were far fewer of them than at Mark Knopfler’s concert a few days earlier. Of course, I won’t go hunting for differences and parallels, since it’s obvious what kind of musical waters these two gentlemen sail in. Right before the entrance to the huge lawn, some folks were enjoying solid and liquid Friulian goodies at a local osteria. To our delight, we also ran into a few Slovenes, mostly from the Primorska region, naturally.
Villa Manin stands in the lovely Friulian village of Passariano and was the home of Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice. The gorgeous building and its estate make for an outstanding setting for summer concerts. Today the villa houses a museum of contemporary art, and we got to hear one of its wings on the bill too, courtesy of an American finger-wizard guitarist with Italian roots.
Joe Satriani defies all the “modern” commandments of music. He writes and plays music that’s demanding for the average ear, full of unbelievable note combinations and, in places, wildly twisted rhythmic states. Back in the mid-eighties he secured a special place in the guitar world, redefining the guitar as the face of instrumental music. First there were Clapton, Hendrix, Beck, Page, Van Halen and Lukather, then Vai, Malmsteen, Gilbert, MacAlpine and a whole hailstorm of others. The latter owe a lot to Satriani, who paved the way for them. For this tour Joe Satriani brought along longtime collaborators, drummer Jeff Campitelli and rhythm guitarist Galen Henson, while the bass duties went to his sidekick from the early days and our March acquaintance from Ljubljana, Stuart Hamm. The quartet found its feet on the big stage brilliantly. Even the wait for the audience to get properly dark didn’t wear anyone out. The party kicked off at twenty to ten. Satriani’s crew struck boldly and tightly with the tune I Just Wanna rock from the new record. It’s a half-vocal track in which Satriani makes heavy use of a speech emulator, while the crowd reads the chorus off the big LED screen and tries to join in. I say “tries” on purpose, since most people didn’t quite pull it off. The song owes quite a bit riff-wise to the likes of Ac/Dc, but Satriani used their scent very subtly, spiced it up with a talk box, and won us over right away. Next came the new, hard-hitting Overdriver, followed by the first surprise of the evening in the form of Satch Boogie. Its legendary theme was nicely oiled and ready to roll; what surprised was putting it right at the start of the set, since Joe has almost always saved it for the peak or the end of a show. After it he introduced himself with the words: “Io sono Giuseppe Satriani (I’m Joe Satriani)”. The roaring applause hadn’t died down yet when the gentlemen fired up the classic Ice 9 (Surfing with the alien – 1987). Full of staccato and breakneck runs up and down the fretboard, it once again came across as a textbook example of Satriani’s approach to the expressiveness of the rock guitar. Next up was the mystical Musterion, a masterpiece built from chromatic legatos and a slight oriental feel. Satriani’s latest record (Professor Sathcafunkilus And The Musterion Of Rock) and the one before it (Super Colossal) brought friendly choruses into his songs, ones I could easily put words to, but it’s better that they stay as they are. Joe knows his strongest weapon is the guitar, which he has mastered to perfection. It’s hard to say what else he could come up with, since he seems to have discovered every trick imaginable and can coax out of the instrument every note he dreams up. Behind Satriani is long, hard work; this is a man who prepares for tours at home, before he even rehearses with the band. In the evening he plays through the entire program exactly as it will go at the concert. And not just once. Some might think his playing is robotic because of this, but I’m constantly surprised anew by the dedication and ecstasy he falls into on stage. Between songs he wasn’t stingy with compliments for the band and the crowd. Rhythm guitarist Galen Henson provided solid support for the whole melodic side of the show, Stu Hamm’s bass is of course one of a kind, and Campitelli is incredibly precise; amid the heap of hits he probably didn’t hit a single one too many or too few. The magical Flying In A Blue Dream warmed up the older connoisseurs, and Satriani then turned the focus of the show to the current record. Each tour he naturally stocks with new songs, but this year there were the most yet. Opinions are always divided on that, but I personally favor a healthy balance between tried-and-true and new material. Maybe Joe really did play one new song too many, but at least he showed an inexhaustible wellspring of inspiration. This package included the superbly played Ghosts, Out Of The Sunrise and Revelation. Next came the cinematic One Big Rush, complete with a deeply inspired solo. Another surprise was the revival of the title track of the album Time Machine (1993), which he hadn’t played at shows in a long time. This time it took on an epic scale, with Campitelli and Hamm each getting short solo spots. Hamm then wowed the crowd with a solo number of his own, showing off his masterful command and huge knowledge of the bass guitar. In a medley he strung together a few themes from his solo records, couldn’t of course go without the obligatory country bit, and also took advantage of the ongoing football championship, remembering it with the theme Ole, Ole, Ole We Are The Champions (The Fans – 1986). The peak of the regular set was definitely the heartfelt ballads Cryin’ and Always With Me, Always With You, where Satriani showed how delicate and dynamically sensitive the guitar can be in calmer songs. The bristling, spacey Surfing With The Alien brought us to a short break. The band delivered standout performances throughout the whole show, and Satriani rearranges some songs’ endings every time, so the listener is always kept on edge. In the encore, the audience participation came courtesy of Crowd Chant (Super Colossal, 2006), where we chased his solos and imitated them as best we could. Satriani quickly became too fast for us, and Summer song was the logical close to a concert of more than two hours. The performance, the sound, the light show and the screen with animations running through the entire set all deserved a flat-out A+. At last, at least near us, he had a stage worthy of his stature. We have to thank someone or something that there are benefactors like Joe Satriani, who give of themselves so selflessly for our escapes from dark everyday life. When and where the magic will be within reach of your wishes again is written on the internet.
P.s: Giuseppe was wearing the same sneakers he has on the cover of his latest record.
Setlist
I Just Wanna Rock
Overdriver
Satch Boogie
Ice 9
Musterion
Flying In A Blue Dream
Ghosts
Out Of The Sunrise
Revelation
One Big Rush
Diddle -Y A -Doo – Dat
Time Machine
Bas solo – Stuart Hamm
Andalusia
Cryin’
Always with Me, Always With You
Surfing With The Alien
encore
Crowd Chant
Summer Song
Photo gallery
