Last night Bev and I went to see Joe Satriani play a free concert to celebrate the release of his latest studio album, Super Colossal [Amazon] [iTunes]. This was the second album in a row for which I was able to catch a free mini-show at the release (2 years ago I saw Joe play at Tower Records for the release of "Is There Love In Space?"). It was also the second time I was able to meet Joe, albeit very briefly. For the second time in a row, it was awesome.

This show was put on in conjunction with West L.A. Music and a bunch of Joe's sponsors. Due to limited space, you had to get a free laminate ahead of time that would let you in the door (I picked up ours last week).



We arrived early and grabbed some seats about 8 rows back from the little stage in the courtyard across the street. We would have gotten better seats up front, but the first several rows of the middle section were reserved for VIPs. I guess you can't complain when it's free. Unfortunately we were too far away to get any good pictures of the stage in the darkness of night. Apparently a few famous people showed up for the VIP section, such as the guitarist from Steppenwolf, and Steve Stevens (best known for his work with Billy Idol, but also an amazing guitarist in his own right).

Joe and his band (Jeff Campitelli on drums, Dave LaRue on bass, Galen Henson on rhythm guitar) came on a little after 7pm and played for about 45 minutes. 4 new songs from Super Colossal, and 4 classic Satch favorites:

1. Super Colossal
2. Just Like Lightnin'
3. Redshift Riders
4. Cool #9
5. Satch Boogie
6. Surfing With The Alien
7. Crowd Chant
8. Ice 9

Amazing as always. After the show, the owner of West L.A. Music came up and did a drawing for a bunch of music gear. The grand prize was a new Ibanez JS100 Joe Satriani signature guitar (signed by Joe, of course). We didn't win anything.

After that, everyone in the audience went back across the street and lined up around the block to meet Joe inside the store and get their CDs autographed. By this time, it was getting pretty chilly outside, but we stuck it out. Along with several hundred other fans:

2 hours and 10 minutes later, we finally got up to Joe. Posed for a picture, he signed some stuff, we thanked him for the great show, and whoosh, we were whisked along to keep the line moving.

It was short, but cool nonetheless. This had already happened hundreds of time in the two hours prior, and I'm sure it wasn't Joe's favorite thing to do. But unlike many famous people, he stuck with it with a smile on his face until every fan got to meet him. Nice guy.

Here's the stuff we got signed (CD insert, CD, both laminates):

Check out one of these free promotional shows if you're on the west coast, or catch Joe, along with Eric Johnson, on his tour later this spring if you can. You won't be disappointed!