The SatchVai Band
- Rock Metal Machine
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
Artists: The SatchVai Band (Joe Satriani/Steve Vai), Ned Evett
Venue: York Barbican
Date: 13th June 2025
"..here tonight, and to be able to witness two players with such technique, flair and accuracy is a privilege. If you’re quick, you can witness this mastery before they travel abroad at the remaining dates."
When I first saw this advertised, I made the mistake of not reading it correctly, and thinking it was a different version of G3. Roll forward to last week, and I suddenly realised it wasn’t.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect either; the only thing I had picked up was that Marco Mendoza was playing bass for them and there was a support act, which I assumed would be a guitarist. I didn’t know if there would be vocals, if it would be just, as I suspected, instrumental stuff, or if it would be all original material or perhaps some covers thrown in for good measure. I could have looked at reviews of earlier concerts (although this was the first gig in the UK, and I didn’t know if they had played elsewhere previously), but I decided not to do that and just be surprised at whatever came out.
At 8pm, the support act walked out, one Ned Evett, on his own, guitar in hand. It looked like a see-through guitar, (but he later informed us it was in fact made of Aluminium), and it was fretless. Then I noticed he had a capo on the neck, quite high up, which I thought unusual. The song definitely wasn’t Metal, or SatchVai kind of material (I guessed, hadn’t heard them yet), but it was very good. The second song ‘Good News’, I noticed he was actually using the capo as a slide/bottleneck, which kind of told me the guitar was tuned to a particular chord, and not standard tuning. Again, interesting and something I had not seen before. He then swapped for another fretless, Dobro style guitar (titanium apparently) and did what I would describe as a more soulful song, but this time with the guitar held at the side of his head, while he hit the back, echoing whatever chord it was tuned to. Swapping once more to what he said was a glass (and heavy) Les Paul style, he started by playing an original composition titled ‘Message To You’ which, utilising his effects board with looper and tremolo pedals, he morphed into something that I recognised almost immediately, continuing to perform an impressive rendition of The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. He left the stage to very healthy applause and he will have made some friends tonight.
Now, above, you will have read that I said I decided not to read any reviews of any concerts that they have done prior to this and, on doing a little research, it seemed to indicate that they hadn’t. This venue, in York, was the first gig they had ever played as this band!
Coming on promptly at 20.45, when the lights went up, alongside Marco Mendoza on bass, Kenny Aronoff on drums and Pete Thorn on guitar, Steve Vai was the first to enter the stage, while Joe Satriani could be seen (from where I was at least), silhouetted in the doorway at the back, on the left, coming on a short while after Vai had given us a bit of a twiddle. And we got a song no less, titled ‘I Wanna Play My Guitar’, sung by Mendoza, and which was the first ever song from the band, brand new, and debuted in York! This was followed by another Satriani and Vai collaboration, ‘The Sea Of Emotion Pt 1’, originally released and performed (I believe) last year, and accompanied tonight by a video on the large screen behind them of things from the times they hung out as kids. Their co-ordinated playing was phenomenal.
As the evening progressed, we went into familiar territory, with well-known instrumental tracks from both guitarists, some with just one of them on stage, Vai playing the lead on ‘Zeus In Chains’, ‘Little Pretty’ (the video of which reminded me of Pink Floyd), and ‘Tender Surrender’, and Satriani doing the conjoined ‘Ice Nine’/‘The Crying Machine’, and ‘Flying In A Blue Dream’/‘Surfing With The Alien’, (the latter giving Pete Thorn the chance to show off how good he is), ‘Satch Boogie’ and the first half of ‘If I Could Fly’, before Vai rejoined where once again the synchronisation and skill of their joint playing was jaw-dropping. There was a point in the evening where all the lights went off, and a crew member came on stage with a red head-torch to set something up, while some covered object on a stand was carried on by two other crew, after which Vai stood behind. When the lights came on again, the cover was taken off to reveal ‘The Hydra’, Vai’s weird looking, three-neck guitar. Accompanied only by the drums, he proceeded to play ‘Teeth Of The Hydra’ on the bass, twelve string and seven-string necks, often two at the same time, and it was quite mesmerising. The last two slots of the main set were reserved for probably the best liked of each of their catalogues, namely Vai’s ‘For The Love Of God’ and Satriani’s ‘Always With Me, Always With You’, the harmony playing being sublime and Pete Thorn once again getting the chance to shine.
Not off stage long before coming back for the encore, after Mendoza and Vai had untangled their guitar leads, they proceeded with Satriani’s ‘Crowd Chant’. They then really got the crowd going with their rendition of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’, vocals once again by Mendoza, who, apart from encouraging the audience to join in, unfortunately sometimes got lost within the mix of the loud guitars. They finished off with Steppenwolf’s classic ‘Born To Be Wild’; again Mendoza rallying the audience to sing along with him.
Sometimes, mainly instrumental music gets a little…, boring is probably not the correct term, but without the vocals and lyrics to focus on the attention can occasionally waver a little. Not for me, I’m a “guitarist”, but I saw no evidence of that here tonight, and to be able to witness two players with such technique, flair and accuracy is a privilege. If you’re quick, you can witness this mastery before they travel abroad at the remaining dates.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
Set List: I Wanna Play My Guitar, The Sea Of Emotion Pt.1, Zeus In Chains, Little Pretty, Ice 9/The Crying Machine, Flying In A Blue Dream/Surfing With The Alien, Sahara,Tender Surrender, Teeth Of The Hydra, Satch Boogie, If I Could Fly, For The Love Of God, Always With Me Always With You.
Encore: Crowd Chant, Enter Sandman, Born To Be Wild.
Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s SATCHVAI Band on tour in the UK until June 19th.
Tickets are available from: https://comm.tix.to/SatchVaiBand and https://www.satchvaiband.com
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall – Tuesday June 17
The Halls Wolverhampton – Wednesday June 18
O2 Apollo Manchester – Thursday June 19
The new single “I Wanna Play My Guitar” featuring Glenn Hughes, is available to stream via https://satchvai.lnk.to/IWPMGGallery
All photos © Andy Brailsford / Lou C (used with kind permission)
Review: Andy Brailsford / Lou C
Photos: Andy Brailsford / Lou C
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