By Terry Marland, Rock At Night Manchester

Live Review: Joe Satriani – Manchester Bridgewater Hall -The Earth Tour -Sunday 14th May 

Joe Satriani is a celebrated guitarist and also known as a distinguished teacher of the instrument. Tonight he dispenses a guitar masterclass to a doting Manchester audience.  

The Bridgewater Hall is a stunning venue, constructed in the 1990s with the emphasis being on creating a principal concert hall for Manchester.  Its imaginative structure and majestic audience space creates a unique atmosphere and is the perfect setting for premier performers.  

 This tour was originally scheduled for 2020 under the banner of Joe Satriani’s, then, latest album ‘Shapeshifting”. The pandemic put paid to that tour and confined Satriani and his band to base. Undaunted, they recorded “The Elephants of Mars” album during their downtime. Consequentially audiences on this tour are privileged to see Satriani showcase tracks from both albums. With no support tonight, the stage is set for two and a half hours of virtuoso guitar.  

Performing  in his band Satriani has the considerable talents of  Kenny Aronoff on drums, Brian Beller on bass and Rai Thistlewayte on Keyboards.  

Emerging  just after eight o’clock Satriani, clad in black with his trademark sunglasses, takes to the stage, briefly accepts the adulation of the crowd and launches straight into a scorching “Nineteen Eighty” from the aforementioned Shapeshifting album.  Throughout the evening the screen backdrop displays an array of images to compliment the music and includes videos from yesteryear to accompany vintage tracks.  

The setlist tonight has been tried and tested throughout the tour and is beautifully balanced to deliver the newer tracks intertwined with seasoned favourites. The atmospheric “Sahara” is followed by the spiralling soundscape of “Elephants of Mars” that is extended to include a stunning Hendrix style guitar sequence.  Stopping briefly to address the audience, Satriani thanks them for their patience in waiting so long for the tour to commence, introduces the band and then plunders the back catalogue for the next sequence starting with “Ice 9” and follows up with a glorious “Thunder High on the Mountain”.     

An extended “Spirits Ghosts and Outlaws” has the band in overdrive while the pace slows for the poignant and melancholic “Faceless”.   

Satriani is master of his craft. The audience, which includes a fair few guitarists, can only look on in admiration at this exhibition of fretboard wizardry .  His command of the instrument is otherworldly and he is rightly regarded as a modern guitar great. 

A mend-bending first half closes with the 1992 classic “Summer Song” with a backdrop of the original video that has the crowd applauding furiously. 

After a very brief interval the second half opens with an inspired drum solo from Kenny Aronoff  that gives way to a blistering “Energy” from the What Happens Next album.  Then it’s time for Rai Thislewayte to have the stage to himself for a dazzling keyboard solo.  

The two latest albums again feature heavily with the autobiographical “E 104th St NYC 1973” one of the highlights of the night for me. The jazz / soul vibe conjuring up images of night time New York.  “Ali Farka, Dick Dale an Alien and Me” is a surreal and heartfelt tribute to two guitarists that inspired Satriani and see Joe seamlessly adopt the styles of both alongside his own. 

The tail end of the concert, as you’d expect, concentrates on older material and includes an encore of “The Crowd Chant”  before rounding off the evening with “Surfing with the Alien.”  

This concert has been eagerly awaited and the audience has been rewarded for their patience with a display of guitar genius. 

The tour continues across the UK and Europe. Find full details HERE:

PHOTO GALLERY

Setlist 

Nineteen Eighty 

Saharah 

The Elephants of Mars 

Ice 9 

Thunder High on the Mountain 

One Big Rush 

Blue Foot Groovy 

Flying in a Blue Dream 

Spirits Ghosts and Outlaws 

Faceless 

Crystal Planet 

Summer Song 

 —————————————– 

Drum Solo 

Energy 

E 104th St. NYC 1973 

Rai Solo 

Cool #9 

Ali Farka, Dick Dale,an Alien and Me  

Shapeshifting 

Teardrops 

Luminous 

If I Could Fly  

Always With Me Always With You 

Satch Boogie 

******************** 

Crowd Chant 

Surfing With the Alien 

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Terry Marland

I’vehad a passion for music from an early age starting with the classic rock bands of the late sixties and early seventies. A few years ago I was able to combine my love of music with my interest in photography when I started to secure press passes for bands appearing in local venues close to my home in North Wales. I also had a stint with the good people at Down the Front Media where I worked at a variety of venues across the UK.Aside from gigs I have been a match day photographer with Chester FC for eight years and you’ll find me pitch-side most Saturday afternoons during the football season.

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