Artist: Chickenfoot
Venue: Webster Hall (New York, NY)
Opener: Ponderosa
Date: 11/8/2011
Label: E1 Entertainment
I’m sure that you all know a little bit about Chickenfoot by now because the band has been active for a couple of years and its super group roster of members are Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith. The guys had just released their second album, which was actually entitled “Chickenfoot III” and while drummer Chad Smith was on the recording, he would be unable to tour due to commitments with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and in his place is longtime session and live drumming powerhouse Kenny Aronoff. Tonight the guys would be breaking it down at the Webster Hall for a sold out show and since this was my first time ever seeing them in action I was rather excited. I really enjoyed the first album and was still getting used to the latest output and while friends had raved about this band in concert to me on occasion, I like to be the judge of this myself from time to time before I nod in agreement. Of course it’s hard to not have a solid band with Satch on guitar and Sammy on vocals. Having grown up on old school Van Halen I knew full well what to expect from Anthony and that left Aronoff as the only denominator I had yet to see in a live situation. Opening the show would be Ponderosa and I arrived on the late side to what they were doing and felt that while they sounded good were not really my thing. It happens.
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Artist: Joe Satriani
Title: “I Just Wanna Rock: Live In Paris”
Label: Epic Records
Release Date: 2/2/2010
Genre: Instrumental Rock
Rating: 4/5
Just as the titled denotes, “Live In Paris: I Just Wanna Rock” captures guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani in one of the settings that serves him best and that is none other than the concert stage. Before we continue on about this one you might be questioning the relevance in purchasing another live Satriani album based on his only releasing “Satriani Live!” back in 2006. That album had a whopping 19 tunes across the span of two CD’s and fans should be aware that while “Live In Paris” does feature ten of these same songs, it also adds twelve others from the musicians career that will definitely be easy to enjoy. It also presents them as being delivered by a different group of musicians and that might make it worthy of investigation a little more. The Satch band for the concert features monster bass player Stu Hamm, Galen Henson on rhythm guitar and Jeff Campitelli on the drums – all capable players when it comes to their manner of execution of this material and one should expect nothing less of a band assembled by Joe. Of course I am still wondering why someone like Joe even needs a rhythm guitarist but I guess in the end this fills it all out a little better. The show presented here on “Live In Paris” is the full gig as performed on May 27th 2008 at the Rex Theatre and that makes it a very close relative of “Satriani Live” but still one that I think the long time fans will welcome into their music library.
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Artist: Chickenfoot
Title: “Chickenfoot”
Label: Redline Entertainment
Release Date: 6/9/2009
Genre: Rock
Rating: 4/5
Chickenfoot you say? Chickenfoot? Yeah I admit that it sounds a little bit weird but what’s in a name when it comes to Rock & Roll anyway these days when in the end all that matters is the music that gets put out there. If you haven’t been paying attention to what this actually is well let me update you for a moment. Chickenfoot is the latest super group to hit the music scene and its comprised of Joe Satriani (guitar), Sammy Hagar (vocals), Michael Anthony (bass) and Chad Smith (drums) and based on all of these players previous efforts being so high on the musical food chain one can only imagine what was expected of their opting to work together in this band. So what did we get? Was it a cluster of cacophonous notes and frenzied melodies that went every which way imaginable or was it something greater? Well I am happy to report that what came of this project was an absolutely kick ass Rock album that showcased everyone’s abilities par excellence and showed that they are so good at what they do that when one listens to the self titled debut it sounds as if they had been working together for a lot longer than they had.
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Artist: Joe Satriani
Title: “Surfing With The Alien” – Legacy Edition
Label: Epic/Legacy
Release Date: 8/7/2007
Genre: Instrumental Progressive
Rating: 5/5
In 1987 Joe Satriani proved to the world that a guitar-oriented album could be a blockbuster that everyone could enjoy even if they were not axe slingers themselves. It was only his second album but it was loaded with technical displays that made aspiring guitarists drool and even upgrade their practice regimen in order to better comprehend exactly what the instrumentalist was doing on the songs. The album was adorned with a striking cover of Marvel Comics’ Silver Surfer soaring through space and hence comes the title of the album and its opening track. Now as the album reaches a milestone in history, Sony Legacy has issued a digitally remastered version and included a bonus DVD that is loaded with unreleased material. As expected the sound with today’s studio contributions make it sound even better but there was clearly something else about it that stood out and that was its overall consistency. The fascinating thing about this recording when one looks back on it some twenty years later was how solid it has remained and how relevant the material still is when compared to other records of its type that are released today. One of the key appeals for me as the listener was how the albums guitar work actually sung to you at times like during “Always With Me Always With You” and at other times it just blasted you with technical prowess and acumen like during its title track. Satriani was already a noted player and had taught students who became guitar heroes in their own right. Some of his most famous pupils consist of Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Testament’s Alex Skolnick and Steve Vai. The album was almost entirely done by Satriani himself as well since he handled the guitars, the bass, and the keyboards along with some of the drum programming. This was before the days where Pro-Tools made a musicians life easier folks so it just adds to the levels of respect that Joe deserves.
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Artist: Joe Satriani
Venue: Nokia Theatre Times Square (New York, NY)
Opener: Eric Johnson
Date: 4/13/2006
Label: Epic Records
I have to start this off by stressing that I am a drummer, and while some of my review readers already have determined this; it bears mentioning again especially since I was going to be reviewing Joe Satriani in concert. “Satch”, as all of his fans refer to him is pretty much one of the best guitar players in the business and he is the mastermind behind the G3 Tour that often finds him alongside Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen as well as many other talented players. Tonight’s show would not be a G3 performance and instead be billed as “The Super Colossal Tour” (the name bears the same moniker as his new album). Joining Joe and his band this time would be another amazing guitarist the one and only Eric Johnson. Johnson music leans more to the bluesy side and this is very apparent on his most recent release “Bloom”. The Nokia Theatre would be the perfect setting for this concert because while it seems a great room for Metal bands there is an acoustic perfection to be enjoyed when attending a show like this. While Johnson would play a wide assortment of songs during his hour long set, his most memorable number would come from his earlier album as he closed with “Cliffs Of Dover”. Instrumental guitar displays seldom keep me entertained for very long but I have to say when you watch Satriani play he makes it look so fluid and simple. It is not the case of course as he is ripping the strings to their capacity and making every guitarist in the audience drop their jaw in amazement or sending them home to review their tablature books.
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Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
