2007-04-13 10:41:24
G3 '07 in Greensburg
I don't even know where to begin. These guys were awesome! Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, and Paul freaking Gilbert... wow. I didn't know this, but Greensburg is Paul's hometown. It was kind of funny; there was a person sitting in front of me wearing a G307 shirt and on the back were all of the cities. Places like Philadelphia, Reno, Las Vegas, Orlando... Greensburg. Hah! Every place they hit was a super huge city; and then there was Greensburg. But that was cool, that meant I got to see them without driving 6 hours.Paul started the show, which was kind of a bummer. He's the best of the 3 and should have closed the show. Anyway, he had with him Bruce Bouillet (also a former member of Racer X). Needless to say, they played songs from Racer X as well as Paul's solo stuff. Right in the middle of their set they went into a little jam. It was mostly Paul. All of a sudden, his stuff stopped working. Paul started messing with the knobs, kicking the pedals, then finally took off the guitar, walked to the side, and swapped it with another. Then a roadie came out, plinked with the pedals, and got it to work again. But the best part... as soon as Paul's stuff stopped, Bruce picked right up, going on with the shredding. If you couldn't see them on stage, you wouldn't have known something went wrong. Once Paul was back, he picked up and Bruce stopped. It was awesome.
John was next. I had never heard of him before. He started playing and it was a very fantasy, spacey kind of sound. I thought to myself, "this sounds very Dream Theaterish." Funny thing I just found out, he founded Dream Theater. The guitar playing was good, but I just don't like that type of music.
Then came on Joe. His style was more of "guitar replaces vocals". Instead of singing, he would play the melody. But I found myself bored too. There was so much, "look what I can do with my guitar," and not enough _actual_ music.
That's why I think Paul stole the show. Actually, he earned it. Not only is he the fastest player ever, but he incorporates the shredding into real music. Never once during his songs did I think, "he needs to stop shredding and get back to the song." I thought that a lot during the other two.
Perhaps the best part of the night was when all 3 came out and played together. They played Foxy Lady, Purple Haze, Going Down, and Jumpin' Jack Flash. Paul sang everything except Going Down, which Joe sang. As they worked up to John Petrucci's solo in Foxy Lady, Paul sang this, "You've got to be all mine, all mine. Oooh, John Petrucci." That was cool.
Here's some pictures I took...
Here are some video clips I took...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBuztC93L2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFQk0BrR57E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlZZL87MzGc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0hVosOW1aY
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