G3 2004, 7-7-2004, Rome (Italy), Centrale del Tennis - RECENSIONE / REVIEW
I also posted this review on: http://vai.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6088#62695 (italian version soon)
-----------------------------------
INTRO
-----------------------------------
At 20:00 we entered. The venue was the central tennis field of Roma, which is the best place that i've ever seen for a concert, because it's an open space, not too big and not too little, and the sound is incredibly perfect. I saw 4 concerts there (Mark Knopfler, Deep Purple, Dream Theater, G3) and all of them were absolutely perfectly sounding!
-----------------------------------
FRIPP
-----------------------------------
At 21:00 Robert Fripp started his set. The audience was very warm with him (differently from the other G3 shows, from the reviews i've read), even if most G3 fans are not there to hear Fripp's music (it's completely different from what you could expect from a G3 show). What he plays when he is not with his incredible band King Crimson is called "soundscapes". It is a strange series of sounds produced with guitar (he performs alone, without a band) but sounds like keyboards, orchestra and so on. He makes some sounds, then puts them in a repeating loop and then he plays new things on this existing base. The result is a kind of movie soundtrack or ambient music. At the half of his set he was joined for 5 minutes by Billy Sheenan on bass to add some additional sounds to his music, in perfect Fripp-style. The audience screamed very loud when Sheenan appeared on the stage. Then, after 20 minutes, Fripp left the stage. The most part of the audience clapped the hands warmly. I liked his set very much. Since i know his work with King Crimson i consider him one of the most inspired geniuses ever, and i was happy to see him on the same stage with Steve Vai.
-----------------------------------
VAI
-----------------------------------
After 5 minutes Steve Vai entered the stage from a side, alone, walked to the opposite part of the stage where his guitar technician gave him the triple-neck guitar which he uses for the new song "I know you're here". The audience went crazy when he got on stage. He sat on a chair and played the intro of the song. Here are the songs that he played:
- INTRO/I KNOW YOU'RE HERE
- GIANT BALLS OF GOLD
- ANSWERS
- JUICE
- THE REAPER (with quotes from "The riddle" and "The attitude song")
- WHISPERING A PRAYER
- BANGKOK/FIRE GARDEN SUITE PART 1: BULL WWHIP
- GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE
- FOR THE LOVE OF GOD
The beginnig of "For the love of God" was only with piano and the audience singing the melody of the song with "oh-oh-hoh-hoooooooo...", it was a great emotion!!! i wasn't expecting such thing!!
Steve played for one hour... and his playing was perfect as always. His band is great and they play in such a natural way that it seems that the songs are very easy to play
-----------------------------------
SATRIANI
-----------------------------------
Then after 20 minutes started the Satriani set, opened by one minute of music introduction by Robert Fripp. Joe played many songs from the new album (which i've never listened) and some old songs. He didn't play "Surfing with the alien" which i was waiting for. The audience was warm, but not like during the Vai set. At the half of the set Robert Fripp joined Joe's band as third guitarist and they played an interesting new song "Is there love in space?"... i liked it very much. Joe also talked about the great sound of this venue, since it's an open space (i've read many G3 reviews by fans who said that the sound was awful)... and this was the first G3 2004 show in an open space. Then after one hour of playing Joe asked "Are you ready for a G3 experience?" and he called Steve Vai on stage (Fripp was already there).
-----------------------------------
G3 JAM
-----------------------------------
The jam was good but they could have chosen better songs to play together. They played "Ice 9" (by Satriani), "Red" (by King Crimson), "The murder" (by Vai) and "Rockin' in the free world" (by Neil Young). I prefer the G3 jams where they play all cover songs, but it was cool anyway. Fripp's sound was too low in front of the others. For "The murder" and "Rockin'..." Joe called on stage another guitarist: Steff Burns (he is now the guitarist of italian rockstar Vasco Rossi) so they were G4 for 2 songs. Actually Steve, Joe and Steff already played together in Alice Cooper's song "Feed my Frankenstein" (from the album "Hey stupid"). At the end of the jam the audience was screaming and clapping hands for this wonderful show.
-----------------------------------
AFTERSHOW
-----------------------------------
Then while most part of the audience was sad for the end of the show, i was happy because i was about to meet Steve since i won an aftershow pass on vai.com. We were taken in a reserved open space (we were about 15 lucky fans) and after 20 minutes Joe arrived. He signed autographs and took photos with fans. I got my cd "Joe Satriani" autographed. After five minutes Joe went away and Steve arrived. Woah! He's extremely nice and warm. I asked him to sign my "Secret jewel box" and all my cds which are 16 and he said "of course". While he was signing the cds asked me which was my favourite, i said "fire garden, passion and warfare, ...well... ALL... i can't choose" and when he was signing "flexable leftovers" he said "this is a strange recording" and i said "yes, and i love it, i like 'the x-equalibrium dance'" and he was surprised and pleased. Then he said "wow, i'm impressed from your collection" and i said "when i'll meet you after 20 years you'll have to sign many more cds" and he said "it will be a pleasure". Then a guy asked about his sons and he said that they are at home in California, so i asked "are you teaching them playing?" and he "i'm teaching Fire, the little one, and he is good... i have a video of him playing with Joe Satriani's son, which is 9 years old, and maybe when they'll be 25 they'll set up a band" and i said "wow, so we'll have another generation of Vai musicians".
e-mail: [email protected]
aftershow photos: http://www.geocities.com/corradomastropietro/g3/g3aftershow.html