G3 - Live In Concert DVD

Yes, it's a plank-spanker's dream. In October 1996, three legendary guitarists--Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai--toured as G3, a kind of super-roadshow featuring their own bands and, as in the last section of this recording, finally coming together onstage for a few numbers. One of the reasons why the whole package works so well is that Satriani's dirtyish techno-blues style, Johnson's limpid near-jazziness and Vai's pyrotechnics manage to seem poles apart yet entirely compatible at the same time, both as individual elements and as a frontline trio (although... Johnson inevitably gets sidelined occasionally during the latter set). There are plenty of good tunes, although Johnson's "Manhattan", in which he switches from plectrum lead to gentle thumb-strums seemingly in mid-bar is outstanding, as is the trio's tour-de-force rendering of Frank Zappa's "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama", Vai of course being a Zappa band veteran. On the DVD: Extra features are thin on the ground. There's a set of scrolling biographies (which don't understand the remote's "scan" command, so they go--by--very--slowly) but nothing else to speak of. In the end the playing is the thing on any outing like this, so just enjoy it. --Roger Thomas [show more]

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