Since its inception in 1996, Joe Satriani’s G3 tour has seen him lock horns with some of the best guitars in the business. From Steve Vai to Robert Fripp, John Petrucci, and Eric Johnson, Satch has engaged every guitarist on his wish list for each of the G3 tour's jaunts.
But as he's revealed. one guitarist managed to elude him, even though he initially looked ready to make it a reality.
Jeff Beck is arguably the biggest name among the most likely candidates to have not featured on a G3 tour, but that’s not for a lack of trying from the Surfing with the Alien maestro. He says a Beck-powered G3 looked to be on the cards, only for a last-minute change of heart to ruin his plans.
“The one that was so close to really happening was me with Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons," Satch told the UCR Podcast. "I think we were a week away from actually putting it in ink in the books. It was so close to happening.
"Then, Jeff bailed at the last moment.”
The guitarist tried to use his humility as te reason for pulling out, but Satriani wasn’t convinced that was the real reason.
“He used the excuse that he thought it would be better if we toured with Prince,” he says. “I took that as a really good joke, like, he just didn't want to do it, so he came up with the most ridiculous suggestion.”
Back in 2018, Satriani spoke about his hopes of building a dream G3 line-up of his “heroes,” Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Brian May and Billy Gibbons, which seems to be the same tour he was alluding to in his UCR Podcast conversation. And what a tour it would have been.
Satriani only crossed paths with the late great twice, so he never felt comfortable enough to ask the burning question and get closure on the real reason for his pivot.
“There was no way for me to ever talk to him about it, like, ‘Why didn't it happen?’” he says. “I've always thought in my mind, ‘Let's call up Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck!’ You know, let's get all of your favorite guitar players out there.”
His theories of why he pulled out center around the generational divide between the two players.
“I could see them just wondering, ‘Who is this kid? We don't know who he is. [He] plays instrumental guitar, who cares.’ So I never really thought it would happen, but I'd ask anyway.”
It’s a strategy that has worked for him before; other players haven’t felt that generational void the same.
“Once in a while, somebody would agree or just show up and say, ‘I want to play,’ like Brian May, Neal Schon, or Robert Fripp,” Satriani adds. “So we've been really fortunate in that respect.”
Fripp joined the G3 tour in 2005, and to this day remains one of the most “interesting characters,” that Satriani has shared the stage with.
“When he joined up, he insisted that he not be listed, and he wanted to play before the show,” he told Guitar Player in 2022. “He said, ‘Look, don’t turn the lights on. I’m going to sit behind all the amps, and I’m going to play music as people walk into the venue and find their seats. And don’t mention my name.’ It’s what he wanted to do.
“We did a couple of other tours together, just me, Steve and Robert playing blues guitar or something. It was hysterical, and he was fearless about that. He was Robert Fripp to the very end.”
Satriani will link up with Steve Vai, Peter Thorn, and ever-busy bass player Marco Mendoza as part of the SatchVai band later this year.
he's also defended Kurt Cobain's guitar skills and says he wants the next generation of players to wipe the floor with him.
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