At The Orpheum Theater On November 05, 2022

- advertisement -

All Photos By George Dionne/@rockisgeorge

It was an usually warm and breezy night when JOE SATRIANI rolled into Boston on November 05, 2022. Not that I’m complaining, as autumn in Massachusetts can be bitterly cold. When it comes to the great solo guitarists of the eighties and early nineties, I have only seen STEVE VAI perform live. That was around the year 2000. It goes without saying I was looking forward to seeing how Satriani’s instrumentals translate in a live setting.

JOE SATRIANI is currently on tour in support of his latest album The Elephants of Mars, released on April 08, 2022 through earMUSIC. The US trek has been dubbed "The Earth Tour" and it began in September and runs through November, before heading out to Europe in the spring of 2023. It features no opening acts. Satriani is backed up by Rai Thistlethwayte (keys/guitar), Bryan Beller (bass), and Kenny Aronoff (drums).

There was nothing fancy about the Satriani stage setup. There was no fancy lighting, no special effects, and no pyro (well of course not). After all, the night wasn’t really about “the show”, it was about musicianship. We all kind of think of JOE SATRIANI as a solo act, but the interaction and the chemistry between him and his band on this night was remarkable.

Satriani played a two hour set with a 20 minute intermission. The set leaned primarily on songs from his latest album The Elephants of Mars and his 2020 release Shapeshifting. New songs like “Sahara”, “Faceless” and “E 104th St NYC 1973”, fit in seamlessly with Satriani favorites as “Flying In A Blue Dream”, “Ice 9” and “Satch Boogie”.

Satriani’s Shapeshifting album finally got its due live, since it was released in the middle of a closed down industry. The album’s title track, “Spirits, Ghosts and Outlaws” and “Ali Farka, Dick Dale, An Alien And Me” were reproduced practically note for note.

Satriani and his band had the crowd in the palm of their hands for the entire two hour set. No one was fatigued at the end of the night. In fact, it seemed the crowd wanted more. Naturally the set ended with “Surfing With The Alien” and the crowd erupted upon the first note, as they did with the final note.

I had the chance to interview JOE SATRIANI for The Rock Is George Podcast earlier this year to promote the release of The Elephants of Mars. You can check it out HERE.

Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By George Dionne/@rockisgeorge