“It was a crazy thought to begin with.”
Joe Satriani joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (March 6) to reflect on the original G3 tour that featured him, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson sharing the stage in 1996 — and what led to their reunion, captured on the new live album, G3 Reunion Live.
Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.
“The credit goes to my son who came to me with an idea about doing a documentary about his life growing up on tour with a very weird dad,” Satriani told host Chuck Armstrong about how the G3 reunion came to be.
“He said, ‘You know, you guys should at least get together and do a show, like a reunion show,’ and then he went further and said we should do a tour.”
When he thought about the original G3 tour in ’96, Satriani admitted it was also a pretty crazy idea.
“The hard part was convincing the promoters back then to have three headlining instrumental guitar players playing,” he recalled.
“And subsequently convincing other artists’ managers that they should let their artists stand next to two other guitar players of equal shred ability, you know? They were very rightfully guarded about their artists.”
The result, though, was a legendary tour featuring three of the greatest guitarists alive and nearly 30 years later, Vai, Johnson and Satriani did it all over again.
“I came to Steve and Eric really late and we only had a few months to see if we could do it,” Satriani explained.
“Luckily, they had a small window between all the gigs that we already had booked … The task actually fell on our agent, Wayne Forte, to try to find enough gigs where we could at least get it together in the same place and make it work.”
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The G3 reunion wasn’t a massive tour, but even in the span of a few weeks, there was a lot of footage captured and fans will get to experience it in the form of a film that should be out in the next year or so.
“The shots wound up being great from that tour and especially the end at The Orpheum, it was really special.”
What Else Did Joe Satriani Discuss on Loudwire Nights?
- How he never concerns himself with his status as one of the greatest guitar players alive today: “I always wake up thinking, ‘What am I going to write?’ I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking I want to write something. I got to write something. And then I pick up the guitar and I go, ‘Oh man, I got to learn how to play again.'”
- Why he’s always looking forward: “I’m writing and recording with Sammy [Hagar], preparing for two separate tours and I have art projects going on for the Wentworth Gallery. I just made a connection to do some collaboration with a famous artist that I’m really looking forward to. I’m always moving forward, I suppose. I don’t have time to pat myself on the back.”
- Why he’s looking forward to his Vegas residency with The Best of All Worlds, featuring Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham: “We manage maybe 18 hours per city when we’re doing a tour. It’s fun, I love moving around but it does wear you out. When you tour, you have to manage your energy…doing a residency is going to be great because you’re going to have so much more energy to put into the show because you’re not so sleepless and shellshocked.”
Listen to the Full Interview in the Podcast Player Below
Joe Satriani joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday, March 6; the show replays online here, and you can tune in live every weeknight at 7PM ET or on the Loudwire app; you can also see if the show is available on your local radio station and listen to interviews on-demand.
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Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner