Hi everyone!

This is the morning after the sick journey to watch G3. For those who don't know, G3 is a tour that goes on every year (since 1996) between Joe Satriani (I would say the worlds greatest LIVING guitarist; can play any style), Steve Vai (another absolutely amazing guitarist; taught by Satriani), and a third guitarist that is picked between the other 2. Each guitarist plays 4-6 of their own songs, before they all meet up at the end and play classics together (like ZZ Top, Jimi Hendrix, etc), then have an improvise-solo-battle in the middle of the song.

So this year, I was gladly welcoming my absolute excitement when I heard that G3 was doing an Australian Tour this year, AND with my favourite guitarist, John Petrucci (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment), for the third/guest guitarist. I was so hyped up in fact, when I bought reserved seating tickets for me and 2 of my mates 40 seconds after the pre-sale started, it said I was the first person to buy tickets. But that was back in October or something…

So yesterday, to celebrate the first day of December… I left my town at 4pm to arrive in Sydney at 6:30pm (well… 4 till 5 we were at Maccas). Took the train down, and when we got out, the 36 degree Celsius heat kinda hurt. But the 20 minute walk to the Pavilion was interesting none the less… streets were full of people partying in old terrace houses and, unfortunately, prostitutes with their pimps; not a nice sight. Luckily, it wasn't long before we reached the pavilion… and when we got to the doors, we were greeted by some buffed-up she-man bodyguards, with a "you have to throw all your plastic drink bottles away"… so there goes our coke and water. Then we were told we had to cloak our bags (put them in a room till the end of the show)… and that cost 2 dollars >_>.

But, before long, I was in the pavilion ready to rock. I had my camera, so here's where we were sitting relative to the stage:

THE PERFORMANCE

Then… John Petrucci went on stage. It was sooo cool to see him and the Dream Theater drummer (Mike Portnoy) on stage really rocking out some of Petrucci's solo work. He then played my absolute favourite guitar instrumental "Lost Without You" after "Jaws of Life" and "Glasgow Kiss", before finishing with "Damage Control". The concert was so loud it really wasn't hard to enjoy every moment of this. He left, before Mike Portnoy took the stage (as he always likes doing) and said "Thankyou Sydney, hope to see you next year with Dream Theater"… So that kind of excited me a bit.

But then we had a 5 minute intermission (and a time to review my photos… awful; all the shaking made it impossible to get a non-blurry shot), before Steve Vai jumped onto the stage… I couldn't name all the songs he played, but it was absolutely spectacular what he could do with his guitar (did a bit of mouth-playing too)… but some included "Whispering a Prayer" - So beautiful and high-pitched that the sound went into my ears twice; one with the ultra-clear sound of the guitar, and another a rather pleasing ring/rumble. Whether he nailed that song or it just sounds tons tons better live… I don't know. But he also played "In the Love of God" and one of his new tracks "Freakshow …." (can't remember the second word). So after Vai left, I could tell I would be in for a shock when the guy who TAUGHT him went on stage…. 5 minutes intermission first, though.

Joe Satriani came on stage balder than ever, and stormed the place with some absolutely sick riffs. Songs like "Satch Boogie" (top 100 guitar solos according to the Rolling Stones… I can't believe these other songs aren't), "Super Colossal", "Always with Me, Always with You", "Cool #9", and more. Then…. Vai and Petrucci came on stage to join him with an awesome finish to one of Satriani's songs, before improvising to Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child", ZZ Top's "My guitar wants to kill your mama", and Neil Youngs "Rockin in the Free World".

When we walked back to the station we realised there were no trains going back home till 6am… luckily, there was one going half way; and our friend would pick us up there and drive us back home… We got home at 3AM, not bad seeing as the show ended at quarter to 12 (4 hours in length) and it usually takes 1 and a half hours to get home. >_>

Anyway.. Last night was one of the coolest nights ever.

-Rhys