By Joe, he's got the swing

On hindsight the sheer impact of Joe Satriani''s first performance in India seems improbable—an audience of over 8,000 people, appreciating two and a half hours of almost exclusively instrumental music by an artist who has neither the mass appeal of Mark Knopfler nor the reputation and familiarity of John McLaughlin.
Satriani''s brand of virtuoso guitarwork, however, proved extraordinarily popular; an astounding display of speed, technique and melody.The audience lapped it all up; half the crowd sang along to popular tunes like Always and Summer Song, yelling out requests till the very last minute. There were no complaints, however, since the set more than adequately represented Satriani''s discography.
The American guitar god used to be better known by his more commercially successful students like Metallica''s Kirk Hammett, Steve Vai (who''s played with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake) and David Bryson from Counting Crows. Satch is no slouch either, practically reviving the guitar instrumental album as a concept with the release of his debut Not Of This Earth. He''s revitalised the genre with definitive records like Flying In A Blue Dream, Surfing With An Alien and The Extremist.
Satch also masterminded the first large-scale tour exclusively showcasing virtuoso guitarists—G3, a shred guitar answer to popular rock festivals like Lollapalooza and Ozzfest. To Satriani''s credit though, G3 tours have never been plagued by the ego hassles that have ripped apart other superstar groupings. He''s even managed to bring on board ''rivals'' like temperamental Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen. Other guitarists to play under G3 have been Brian May (Queen), Neal Schon (Santana, Journey) and Eric Johnson.
Satriani is scheduled to perform at Kolkata on May 15 and Bangalore on May 17—the last shows on his current tour. Fans looking forward to a new studio album might have to wait longer than usual though, since Satriani reveals his next project is a "car video game soundtrack for Electronic Arts". There just might be another guitar prodigy to look forward to—Satriani''s son ZZ shares his passion for playing the guitar and for Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix. So, is young ZZ shaping up to be a chip of the old block? "He plays quite well," says a proud Satriani.