Joe Satriani - Live In San Francisco (DVD)

Joe Satriani is considered by many as one of the greatest guitarists to have ever lived. He manages to combine technical brilliance with melody to produce some excellent and powerful songs. He plays a good rock song too.

'Live In San Francisco' was recorded at The Fillmore and finds Joe and his band (then consisting of Jeff Campitelli on drums, Stu Hamm on Bass and Eric Caudieux handling keyboards and additional guitar duties) on top ...
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The performances from Joe and the rest of the band are flawless. It's also clear to see that they're all enjoying themselves and this helps to add to the overall experience. Joe in particular seems to feed off the crowd and gets faster, wilder and more wonderful as the crowd gets more and more into the concert.

The set list has been well thought out, with most, if not all of Joe's classic songs appearing, as well as one or ... more

Joe Satriani is considered by many as one of the greatest guitarists to have ever lived. He manages to combine technical brilliance with melody to produce some excellent and powerful songs. He plays a good rock song too.

'Live In San Francisco' was recorded at The Fillmore and finds Joe and his band (then consisting of Jeff Campitelli on drums, Stu Hamm on Bass and Eric Caudieux handling keyboards and additional guitar duties) on top form. It offers about two-and-a-half hours' worth of music, with tracks ranging from his 1986 release, 'Not Of This Earth' through to, (his then latest album), 'Engines Of Creation' from 2000.

The performances from Joe and the rest of the band are flawless. It's also clear to see that they're all enjoying themselves and this helps to add to the overall experience. Joe in particular seems to feed off the crowd and gets faster, wilder and more wonderful as the crowd gets more and more into the concert.

The set list has been well thought out, with most, if not all of Joe's classic songs appearing, as well as one or two lesser known, but just as worthy, songs here and there. For any fan of Joe, seeing the songs performed live is worth while experience, as he rarely plays a song the same way twice, so it's interesting to listen to the variations and improvisations that he does. Equally anyone unfamiliar with the majority of Joe'swork would still be able to enjoy the overall live set for its musical value alone.

Personal highlights for me included a variation on the intro to 'Summer Song', but in particular, Stu Hamm's 'Bass Solo'. Here, Stu glides effortlessly from 'Moonlight Sonata' into slap bass, without so much as batting an eyelid. It's clear to see why he has been such a popular choice to appear live and on records for both Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, to name just two. One puzzling factor for me is the fact that some members of the crowd are booing him during this song - largely I think this is because they want to see Joe. I for one think their reaction is a bit of a shame, but it's still enjoyable to watch a talented musician playing and the booing doesn't detract too much from the performance.

The DVD consists of two discs, giving you a total of twenty-five songs. On the discs, the menus are simple, yet stylish and easy to navigate. They have been well laid out and the artwork is similar to that of the DVD cover, adding a level of consistency and helping to make it feel like one big project, rather than something that's been stuck together for the sake of it.

The bonus features are a little sparse, but what there is, is entertaining and of a high standard.
The first disc has three songs you can play with different camera angles, allowing you to view the stage from various other angles. This has become quite a standard feature of music DVD's now, but back when this was released this was somewhat of a novelty to me and something I found interesting to play around with. However, I have to say that some of the camera angles are a little obscure and, whilst overall this feature is reasonable, I have seen better attempts on other DVDs. That said, I certainly wouldn't say it's a reason to be put off buying the DVD.

The second disc has 'Backstage', which, as you may expect, was shot pre-concert and has clips of the sound-check, along with Joe discussing his guitars, FX-pedals and pre-show warm-ups. I always find interviews with Joe interesting, but I suspect the majority of this section may appeal more to the guitarists'.

The second disc also has a 'Discography' section, an interactive guide to Joe's album releases, consisting of album covers, track listings and snippets of information regarding some of his non-solo work, (such as the G3 tour with Vai and Eric Johnson). I've not seen another music DVD that actually contains a discography, (though I'd be amazed if there wasn't one) and I think it's a very good idea. The navigation here isn't particularly fantastic, but it is manageable and easy enough to use without getting lost.

The sound quality is excellent and as good as an audio CD, allowing you to hear the individual instruments clearly and distinctly.
Unfortunately, the picture quality on this DVD is not the greatest I've seen, with certain scenes looking quite grainy. Don't misunderstand me here, the picture is still visible and once you get used to it you hardly notice, but I have seen much better images from both Joe Satriani DVD's and other artists, so the quality in places is slightly disappointing

Another downside is that, as a guitarist, I was particularly interested in seeing how Joe plays certain songs; however, many of the camera shots of Joe either focus too much on his picking hand or on the back of him. Admittedly, this isn't an instruction video, nor is it specifically aimed at guitarists, but some more shots of Joe's fretting hand at key moments would have been appreciated and I don't think I'd be the only guitarist who's bought a live DVD of an artist with the hope of learning a thing or two.

Overall, I would recommend this DVD, but with a few disclaimers. Whilst Joe is an incredible musician, he is a typical guitarist and at points can tend to "go off on one" during solos, etc. Non-guitarists and, in particular, non-rock fans may find these interludes somewhat boring, too frequent and that they detract too much from the actual music. I think if you only have a passing interest in guitar-driven music, this probably won't appeal to you. If, like me, however you have rock and metal music flowing through your veins, this is a valuable DVD to have in your collection and something you'll probably come back to quite regularly. A definite must for any Satch fan, a definite maybe for rock/metal guitar fans.

Track Listing:

Disc One
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Time
Devil's Slide
The Crush Of Love
Satch Boogie
Borg Sex
Flying in A Blue Dream
Ice 9
Cool #9
Circles
Until We Say Goodbye
Ceremony
The Extremist
Summer Song

Disc Two
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House Full Of Bullets
One Big Rush
Raspberry Jam Delta-v
Crystal Planet
Love Thing
Bass Solo
The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
Always With Me, Always With You
Big Bad Moon
Friends
Surfing With An Alien
Rubina
 

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