The lifelong friends and musical trailblazers are co-headlining dates across the US
The Satch-Vai Tour brought two guitar wizards to DC’s Warner Theater for a night of instrumental rock on Thursday (Apr 11th). Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have known each other since childhood and have carved out their own niche in a sub-genre of rock full of nuance and complexity.
Vai went first, with his airy tunes defying melody and yet fully engrossing the crowd. After each number, they cheered as loudly as any rock fan. But during Vai’s songs, they studied every move the “Tender Surrender” guitarist made with the intensity of a student held rapt by a professor.
Not that Vai serves the crowd a masterclass. He and his three-piece barely broke a sweat. Vai finger-tapped his glowing frets, karate chopped the strings, and even carried the guitar by its whammy bar—(sidebar: I feel for his poor guitar tech!)
With each manipulation, Vai corralled near-impossibly creative tones from his instruments. Combine that skill with a mastery of his pedal board, and the sounds Vai can get out of his guitar are as infinite as the spacey universe behind him on which his hieroglyphic logo floats.
Joe Satriani took the stage after a brief intermission. While his music is less ethereal than Vai’s, it still favors complexity over melody. Satriani is a master at using his guitar to teleport listeners anywhere he wants to take them.
The wandering “Sahara” transported DC to the desert. “Surfing with an Alien” featured a cartoon Satch rocking out for his alien friends. The message in the song was clear; Satriani’s playing is otherworldly. Plus, with his shaved head and bug-eyed sunglasses, he looks almost as if he’s from another planet! “Satch Boogie” was a groovy number that explored his take on a classic boogie beat.
Satch can also sing, offering vocals on “Big Bad Moon,” and singing during a jam session with Steve Vai at the end of the night.
Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff backed Satriani, a role that has taken him on the road with his friend for several years. When not touring, Aronoff is a session player and producer with his own studio in LA, where he chatted with us in 2022.
The night reached its apex when Vai returned to join Satch for the final three songs of the night. Vai’s lifelong friendship with Satch began when Vai was his student. Now they are collaborators and tour mates who have defined a very distinctive style of rock and roll and carved their own paths with their freakishly unparalleled skills. How lucky we are when those paths converge.
