Undeniable proof of alien life was on display Tuesday night at the , where the otherworldly dwarfed any human who has ever slung an ax. The hairless, begoggled Satch beguiled the sold-out theatre with his frenzied, relentless, anthemic, technically-brilliant six-string tenacity, occasionally floating his arm upward to summon enthusiastic support for his crashing crescendos.
Flanked by a pair of Marshall half-stacks, a three-screen video show and a subtle, always-in-the-pocket, lock-stepping band, the mighty Silver Surfer ripped through a 22-song diatribe that mashed his own interpretation of every great guitar sound into a single night. But rest assured, while there were whispers of B.B. King (in the lilting “Littleworth Lane,”) Eric Clapton (in the gritty rocker “Big Bad Moon,”) Jimi Hendrix, (in the sonically intense “War,”) Jimmy Page, (in the gently auto-tuned and perfectly whammy-barred “Wind In the Trees,”) and every other genre of guitar giants, each note was distinctly, uniquely Satriani’s. The 54-year-old Long Islander has probably had one of the more lasting impacts on American guitar playing, having taught technical monsters like Steve Vai, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and jazz’s Charlie Hunter.
Armed with a rotation of Ibanez guitars – the flame orange one … just whoa – Satriani could conjure emotions that he actually intended when he scripted the tune. There was an aural, floating feel to both “Flying in a Blue Dream” and “Dream Song.” There was that ethereal, 2001-esque recognition of space in “Light Years Away.” “Memories” had a rich resonance triggered by Satch’s layering of arrhythmic riffs atop his band’s tight groove.
The wizard delivered hints of nuanced metal, swinging rock, jazz and even pop with his fleet-fingered jams. His “Revelation” dripped with pop sensibility, as if it belonged deep in the background of some overly-processed radio hit. (Lest we forget: The ever-epauleted British popsters Coldplay settled with Satriani after he sued them for copying – poorly, at that – his “If I Could Fly” in their gratingly void “Viva La Vida.”)
The crowd lapped up Satriani’s head-nod inducing performance, leaping to their feet after particularly fiery flourishes in the vaguely Van Halen- ed “Satch Boogie” and the frenetic “Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing.” Even after more than two hours of extended, at-the-peak jamming, Satch’s encore of “Summer Song” spurred a rare and very large dance pit in the Paramountap orchestra section.
