2024 appears to be a busy year for guitarist Joe Satriani.
He’s kicking it off by reuniting with the original, 1996 G3 lineup of himself, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai — with a tour that begins at The Rialto Theatre in Tucson on Tuesday, Jan. 23. Three days later, on Friday, Jan. 26, the jaunt comes to Talking Stick Resort Ballroom in Scottsdale.
In the summer, he’ll hit stages again, this time with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham for “The Best of All Worlds” jaunt, with special guest Loverboy. They visit Phoenix’s Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
“We’re going back on tour again,” Satriani said about G3. “It’s always a fantastic challenge and the most fun you could ever have. It’s a crazy thing that’s hard to explain to people.
“Once you put that first foot on stage, it’s the greatest thing ever. All the craziness fades away. It’s the best place you could ever be.”
G3 tour is a celebration of the guitar, with each axe-slinger performing his solo sets and then they reconvene for a jam session. The jaunt proved to be popular worldwide.
Since its inception in 1995, G3 has featured many iconic guitarists, including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, Robert Fripp, Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Steve Lukather, Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker, Adrian Legg and Phil Collen.
“This is a unique tour,” Satriani said. “Eric Johnson and Steve Vai are the two guys I invited for the very first G3 in 1996. What people don’t know is it’s the anniversary of my son coming out on tour with us.
“He turned 4 a few days before the very first show in 1996. That’s when we decided he was old enough to get on the bus. He learned how weird his father really was.”
The family — Joe, Rubina and son, ZZ — traveled together until ZZ was in high school. About a year ago, the young filmmaker said he wanted to document G3.
“He wanted to do a film documenting him growing up on the tour, alongside the fact that there were these other connections, like with Steve Vai and myself,” he said.
“I’ve known Steve since he was 12. We grew up in the same town, went to the same high school and here we are playing together. It threads into the narrative of the film of what guitar playing means to everybody.”
ZZ flew to the United Kingdom to interview Queen’s Brian May and Robert Fripp; New York to talk to Steve Miller, Al Di Meola and John Petrucci. Other “fantastic musicians” who will be in the piece are Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton and Nuno Bettencourt.
“He jumps on stage with me, too,” Satriani added. “He’s actually a really good musician, too.”
Satriani said touring with the family taught ZZ life lessons.
“He got to be part of the family that included Vai and all the crew and the truck drivers; that became normal for him,” he said.
“It was really important for him to see the personal effort it takes, not only at home but on tour. People will ask him about this song or that song. They don’t realize that my family will hear me play a song 2,000 times, 2,000 ways until a record gets released. It’s a different reality for my family, but it’s great for us to experience this together.
“It all makes sense: the idea of how much effort you have to put into being disciplined, what it takes to be a performing musician. The business side, the personal side of maintaining friendships and good relations with people you work with. We don’t have offices. Everybody’s spread out and we meet for these crazy, high-octane two months. Bringing him out on tour was the norm.”
As for the Hagar tour, Satriani said this one has a different feel than other times when he was approached.
“It’s different from when Alex Van Halen called me a few years ago about an Eddie Van Halen-type tour,” he said.
“That was really frightening. It was 100% focused on Eddie and everything he did. I don’t really play like him, as I explained to Alex... This one is much more broad. This celebrates Sammy Hagar’s legacy over the decades—his material with Montrose, Chickenfoot, Van Halen. The bulk of the material is his era from Van Halen with the David Lee Roth era thrown in. I’m so looking forward to it.”
G3 Tour with Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23
WHERE: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $63.50
INFO: www.rialtotheatre.com
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26
WHERE: Talking Stick Resort’s Salt River Grand Ballroom, 9800 E. Talking Stick Way, Scottsdale
COST: Resale tickets available, starting at $100
INFO: www.ticketmaster.com
“The Best of All Worlds”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20
WHERE: Talking Stick Resort Amphitheater, 2121 N. 83rd Avenue, Phoenix
COST: Tickets start at $48.65
INFO: www.ticketmaster.com
