This year’s NAMM convention had a LOT of great live shows and while I was fortunate enough to be invited to several of those performances there was only ONE that I really wanted to see… a private celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Joe Satriani’s ‘Surfing With The Alien’! This was an invitation only event hosted by Ibanez Guitars. I found out about it from Joe Satriani himself! While getting his autograph I was chatting with him as he is one of my absolute FAVORITE guitarists and when I asked him if he would be playing anywhere at this year’s NAMM show he told me about the special concert that was being held at a club in Long Beach, CA called the Vault 360. He mentioned that it was an ‘invitation only’ event but then said 
that we should march into the Ibanez booth and DEMAND tickets!! I don’t know about the demand part but I had to go ask. I was told that they were strictly for their reps and vendors but to check back with them the day of the show and they would see what they could do. Lucky for me they liked us and hooked us up with FOUR passes for the show… it was ON!!
We got to the club as the opening band Evan’s Blue was onstage and I must say… they were very good. I was quite impressed with both their sound and their showmanship. What was so great about this place was the atmosphere. Everyone was very relaxed… not your typical rock crowd. There were Ibanez dealers and representatives there with their families and plenty of rockstars all around ready to enjoy Joe Satriani. A couple
of my friends went up to the bar to get some drinks and when they tried to pay the bartender just looked at them kinda strange. He (the bartender) then proceeded to ask if she wanted some change because the drinks were FREE!! That’s right… OPEN BAR!! Ibanez really knows how to throw a party. I made my way up front armed with my cameras with major anticipation for the show. I hadn’t seen Joe Satriani play since my first NAMM show in 1993 so I was THRILLED to be there… as were my guests!!
When Joe came out the place came alive. This man is such a phenomenal guitarist and it’s obvious that he LOVES playing. He opened the show with Surfing With The Alien and blew everybody’s minds in the process. I could NEVER get tired of watching him play. This man seems to just disappear somewhere deep inside himself as he plays. It’s almost as if he is making love to that guitar… it is a part of him and he is incredibly passionate about it. He played every song off the much celebrated album that started off his illustrious career. I still can’t believe that Surfing With The Alien came out 20 years ago… talk about feeling old!! Of course Joe was playing his new signature Ibanez guitar which has the alien surfing right on the front. This guitar looks just like the album cover but in 3-D… NICE!! In 
addition to all of the songs off of the album he also played some of his signature tunes like Crush of Love… which made for some AWESOME video. I could watch it over and over again.
Towards the end of the show Joe was talking to the crowd about his guitars, how wonderful the folks at Ibanez have been to him, how NOTHING compares to the Ibanez sound and how it wouldn’t be NAMM without a NAMM JAM!!!!! He brought some of his friends onstage to jam with him (something he is famous for)… Marty Freidman (Megadeth), Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big), Herman Li (Dragon Force) and Doug Doppler (Doppler Inc.)!! HOLY SHNIKEES… this was AWESOME!! They did Joe’s version of Down, Down, Down with each guitarist taking turns on the lead for what seemed like more than ten minutes easily… talk about CRAZY!! Each one of these men are just AWESOME guitarists and all with different styles of playing and when they were up there together just bouncing off of one another it was just magical… orgasmic really!! Most of us (and the crowd) just watched in total awe with our jaws on the floor. DAMN they were having fun up there… and so were we… UNREAL!!
In all I’d say they played 3 or 4 songs together. If I were to elaborate on each guitarist’s techniques this would be a book… to say that I loved it would be the understatement of the YEAR!! Thank GOD for video… I watch it constantly… it is SWEET!! I also love the fact that the crowd was so courteous. There was no pushing, shoving or trying to get to the front. Every seat in the house was a good one and everyone was so relaxed….when someone accidentally bumped into you they actually said “excuse me” and apologized!! It was truly ONE BIG PARTY and I felt privileged to have been able to be a part of it!! BIG THANKS to Ibanez/Hoshino for allowing us to attend this party and HUGE THANKS to Mr. Joe Satriani and friends for completely blowing our minds with the most awesome guitar playing ever witnessed!! This show will be very hard to top but I’m sure looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year!!
