CONCERT PREVIEW: Joe Satriani celebrates new album, brings G3 tour to Merriam Theater

Three of the world’s most renowned rock guitarists – Joe Satriani, Phil Collen (of Def Leppard) and John Petrucci (formerly of Dream Theater) – will share the stage at Merriam Theater on Feb. 17 for this year’s G3 tour. It will surely be paradise for every guitar fan, especially those who like it loud.

G3 was founded by Satriani to showcase some of the world’s best guitarists. This is the 13th G3 tour since 1996. The tour has previously featured guitar luminaries including Steve Vai, Eric Johnson and even Robert Fripp. Collen will be making his G3 debut while this will be Petrucci’s fifth year on the tour.

The tour coincides with the release of Satriani’s latest album, “What Happens Next” (Legacy/Sony), which was released in January.

Satriani discussed the making of the album and the tour in a telephone interview while on the road, en route to the fifth show of the tour in Salt Lake City.

“[What Happens Next’] is a record that got started because I wanted to change direction radically,” explained Satriani. “And somehow I convinced (drummer) Chad Smith from the (Red Hot) Chili Peppers and (bassist) Glenn Hughes from Black Country Communion and Deep Purple and a host of other bands to come and join me to do an instrumental album that’s basically a power trio rocking out in some classic and some really modern arrangements, and the result is my 16th studio album.”

Satriani explained that he is always looking to do something new and different.

“As soon as I finish one thing I’m dying to change direction. It’s just one of those things where I strive to do something that makes me feel like I’m challenged, like it’s fresh and new, like I’m going to learn something, like I’m going to have to learn a lot to try to accomplish it.”

Satriani first approached Smith, his band mate in Chickenfoot, the supergroup that also includes Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony. Smith agreed to do the project and helped Satriani contact Hughes, who, to Satriani’s surprise, also agreed.

“Once (Glenn) signed on I wrote everything knowing that it was going to be Chad and Glenn and I made sure that there was plenty of room for them to grow into their roles,” said Satriani, who describes the album as “a lot more up to date and modern. It sounds maybe less progressive rock and more straight-ahead rock. It’s definitely the most melodic collection of songs I’ve ever put out. And I think the organic nature of the performances and the recordings is quite striking.”

The next challenge was to prepare for performing the new material on the road with his touring band. Satriani’s band includes another guitar phenom, Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai), as well as Keneally’s own band mates, bassist Bryan Beller (The Aristocrats) and drummer Joe Travers (Dweezil Zappa, Duran Duran).

“We took special care not to overdo it in the studio,” explained Satriani. “I wanted to make sure that all of the material was going to be able to live and breathe as live stage material.”

Despite that forethought there were still some challenges.

“The nuts and bolts of it are difficult because there’s always three or four guitar parts that I have to turn into one. And in the case of Mike Keneally, he handles rhythm guitar, harmony guitar and all the keyboard parts. Mike Keneally is a wizard. Sometimes he’s playing guitar and keyboard simultaneously, and it’s pretty amazing.”

Despite the challenges, Satriani said that only four shows into the tour things are going great.

“We’ve been having a great time with the new material. We lead off with it and the audience has been loving it. We had a really long lead time before the release of the record so starting last September we started leaking tracks and debuting different songs from the album, so even though the album just came out fans are more familiar with it than they would’ve been if the album had just been sprung on them.”

In addition to a new album, Satriani is also celebrating the release of the documentary “Beyond the Supernova,” which takes its title from Satriani’s album “Shockwave Supernova” (Sony, 2015). The film, which debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October, 2017, was directed by Satriani’s son ZZ Satriani. It will air on Axis TV beginning in March.

Starting the night off on the G3 tour is Phil Collen’s blues/rock/soul band Delta Deep, which includes bassist Robert DeLeo (Stone Temple Pilots), drummer Forrest Robinson (Joe Sample, The Crusaders) and vocalist Debbi Blackwell-Cook. Delta Deep is also celebrating a new release. The CD/DVD “East Coast Live” (Frontiers) came out on Jan. 26.

Next is John Petrucci’s power trio with bassist Dave LaRue (Flying Colors, Steve Morse Band) and drummer Mike Mangini (Dream Theater, Extreme).

Satriani’s band will follow, and he promises a set that will include “a combination of new music, greatest hits and some songs you didn’t think we’d ever play again.”

This will be followed by a jam with Collen and Petrucci joining Satriani and his band.

“We invite Phil and John and in most cases some guests or Debbi Blackwell-Cook, the vocalist for Phil’s band out… and then we start celebrating classic rock by doing some covers. We’ve been doing Deep Purple and Stevie Wonder, all kinds of music. It’s been a lot of fun. The show always ends with a big jam at the end.”