Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

Review by Ali Blackdiamond

I hadn’t seen the legendary guitarist Joe Satriani since his ‘hair’ days in 1992 at the NEC in Birmingham. So when I was given the opportunity to review his show on the “Unstoppable Momentum” tour, I jumped at the chance. Joe has recently released his fourteenth studio album, “Unstoppable Momentum” via Epic Records/Sony Music UK and I have to admit that I had a very limited knowledge of it, not having heard his work in a while.

The City Hall in Sheffield is a fantastic venue for a show, especially since being refurbished and re-developed in 2005. The shows take place in the magnificent Oval Concert Hall which seats over 2000 people. Tonight the venue was pretty much full except for some spaces on the top balcony. There was a mix of ages, leaning more towards who I considered to be the older longstanding fans of Joe.

Support came in the shape of British guitarist and vocalist Matt Schofield, the band completed by Jonny Henderson and Kevin Hayes on Hammond organ/bass guitar and drums.

He introduced his band as “The Matt Schofield Trio” and they played several blues based songs. They were enjoyable, but after the first few, sounded a little ‘samey’ to my ears. Matt has a deep, soulful voice, most suited to his style of (Gary Moore influenced?) playing. He announced that they were playing songs from their current Live CD.

The third song, “Where Do I Have To Stand?” had a definite jazz vibe to it, I would describe the music as a rock/blues/jazz/ vibe fusion.

Plenty of people were watching which is not always the case for a support act, a few people were in and out of the hall, but on the whole the audience seemed to enjoy the band and their half hour long set, there were lots of nodding heads around me and cheers at the end.

After the short interval it was time for the guitar master Joe Satriani to appear. The show started with drummer Marco Minnemann showing us a mean drum solo, getting the crowd going, then he was soon joined by bass player Bryan Beller and keyboardist Mike Keneally. Joe entered the stage to loud applause, of course wearing his trademark dark shades (which stayed in place the whole time) and looking very relaxed in black jeans and T-shirt complete with contrasting bright flame orange Ibanez, which was played for the first of several times by Joe’s teeth.

Straight into ‘Cool #9’ with a flashing target backdrop in the background, the first of many more images to come through the show! The band were very relaxed and all three guitarists often came together in the centre of the stage. Then we were treated to ‘Flying In A Blue Dream,’ along with some stunning imagery of running water on the screen. Before the next song, Joe changed to his white guitar and as we had not heard any speech from him yet, an audience member shouted out “Talk Joe!” This was greeted by laughs and Joe said ‘what a beautiful place it is here and we have lots to play tonight.”

‘Unstoppable Momentum’ was next, a great song which began with Mike playing keyboards before changing back to his guitar and taking centre stage with Joe. There were smiles from each member of the band, it was obvious to see how much they were enjoying performing. Marco’s drums sounded brilliant, very solid, as did the whole sound, made even better with the excellent acoustics in the City Hall.

The energy of the songs was a very sharp contrast to the fact that the whole audience was seated. Personally, I do not attend many shows with seating, especially for a rock gig, and it just doesn’t feel right to me, as you want to move around. We must have looked strangely static to the band on stage, just a sea of nodding heads!

Of course there were plenty of guitar solos throughout the night, the sounds Joe produced from his guitar were amazing, he made it look totally effortless. Joe changed guitars again, an eye catching red and blue this time, for ‘The Crush Of Love’, where he invited us to “take a trip down memory lane.”

Song after song through the two hour set was a feast for the eyes and ears – atmospheric lighting, brilliant effects on the screen, the unity of the band and of course Joe’s style; the amazing dexterity and speed of his fingers, making his guitar sing.

Joe stopped to tell us his ‘crazy story’ before the classic ‘Satch Boogie.’ It was  from 1997 when he played this venue. After the song, the band all left the stage and it went completely dark. They waited for the crowd reaction and there was nothing, just complete silence, so they just shuffled back onto the stage. Joe remembered; “so that didn’t work! (laughing) Now when anything goes wrong anywhere in the world, we call it the ‘Sheffield Shuffle.’”

Another classic stand out track for me was ‘Shine On American Dreamer,’ which Joe introduced by asking us to “imagine being in a Cadillac driving through the USA desert,” which of course was on the screen too.

Joe thanked the crowd for “letting us play all this music” and was clearly enjoying himself immensely. Then he announced it was three of the crew members birthdays (Trent, Russ and Jack) and the band played ‘Happy Birthday’ to them and the audience sang. Joe announced “Those are the guys who do all the hard work, we just gotta play!”

‘Surfing With The Alien’ was another highlight of the show for me, what a song and great to see it performed live again! That was the last song and the crowd were on their feet (at last!) cheering the band’s brilliant performance.

Joe and the band played three encores and most of the crowd stayed on their feet until the end, it was  great to see everyone come to life and show their appreciation for such a brilliant performance.

Set List

1. Drum solo
2. Cool #9
3.  Devil’s Slide
4. Flying In A Blue Dream
5. Unstoppable Momentum
6. The Weight Of The World
7. Ice 9
8. The Crush Of Love
9. I’ll Put A Stone On Your Cairn
10. A Door Into Summer
11. Lies And Truths
12. Satch Boogie
13. Shine On American Dreamer
14. Three Sheets To The Wind
15. Cryin’
16. Jumpin’ In
17. Jumpin’ Out
18. A Celebration
19. Always With Me, Always With You
20. Surfing With The Alien
21. Crowd Chant
22. Summer Song
23. Rubina

JOE SATRIANI 15/06/13
Photo Credit: Damian Twigg