Joe Satriani - guitar; Stuart Hamm - bass; Jonathan Mover - drums
This show features guitar wizard Joe Satriani when his career as a solo artist was just starting to take off. Inspired by the late Jimi Hendrix to learn and play guitar, he adapted to the instrument so quickly that he became an established teacher on Long Island in his late teens. Among his students was Steve Vai, who would later gain fame with Van Halen's David Lee Roth.
Satriani studied with pianist Lennie Tristano and guitarist Billy Bauer, and later settled in the Bay Area in 1978. He played with the Greg Kihn Band, before being asked in early 1988 to be lead guitarist for Mick Jagger's solo band. That exposure gave Satriani the platform he needed to get his own thing in motion.
His initial band would go on to be a legendary group of musicians, including bass ace Stu Hamm. In 1996, Satriani formed the G3 guitar tour with his old pal Steve Vai and axeman Eric Johnson. The tour would be based on the Lollapalooza format and often had special guitar stars join up; among them was King Crimson's Robert Fripp.
Since this show was recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour (while promoting his legendary Surfing with the Alien CD), Satriani has gone on to release a number of successful, hard-rock albums. He briefly joined Deep Purple in 1994, but left after one tour to focus on his solo career and was replaced by Steve Morse.