Joe Satriani rocked and everything they say about him being a god is true!! He was simply amazing.

If Knoffler rocked, Satriani rocked with a capital R! He came on stage in his trademark black shades and black t-shirt. He took his guitar at 7.00 pm and only stopped at 10.00 pm after 3 hours of continuous strumming, riffing, raffing and whatever the hell is does with his guitar. As Arnab Suman rightly commented, the guy makes love to his guitar.

Adel managed to get loads of pictures on his brand new camera (mere paas Nokia 6670 hai!) and Suman (mere paas iPod hai!) was in 7th heaven after actually shaking hands with the man at Reliance Webworld earlier that day. The ticket he bought was the lucky one and he got to meet the man himself. Poor Arnab was devastated since both had bought tickets together. Better luck next time, Arnie! (I must mention Arnie’s friend Saurabh who kept calling his friends through the concert and made them listen to Sat on his phone. I think he missed most of songs in the process!).

While the music rocked, the management of the event, by a group called Opium, was pretty dismal.

The 2000 bucks row section was way too large. They should have estimated the number of tickets sold in that section and made an appropriate demarcation accordingly. Several people began crossing to the other side soon after the program began since there was a yawning gap.

Suman won a Rs 500 ticket and was told at the venue that there was no entrance for that denomination!

The overhead screens were not up till Satriani was into his 3rd or 4th number.

Even after they were up, they kept blanking out. The camera man also seemed to be confused as to what he was supposed to focus on. So each time Satriani created magic with his fingers, we had to look at the black screen. I think it was an episode of ‘The Revenge of the Cameraman’.

They sent policemen to the barriers making us feel like criminals on the wrong side of the fence. Security personnel manning a few junctions would have been just fine, thank you.

All in all, if it wasn’t for the music, these folks would have gotten some major flak. They definitely need to pull up their socks if they’re planning to manage events in the future.

But we’re glad we got to see Joe Satriani. There’s nothing like watching these live-wires, in the flesh, performing on stage.

Afterthought:
This is something I have to mention. We went to Millers 46 for a bite after the concert. It took them about 20 minutes to serve us water! And we waited another 20 minutes and no one came to take our order. Not even a ‘sorry’, but we’re crowded today, so don’t mind the delay. We walked out (something I don’t do unless I’m really pushed to the limits and I do understand that restaurants can have their stressed out days!). What was disappointing was the attitude of the folks there, especially since I like the place.

We went to Coconut Grove on Church Street and had some spicy chicken, fish and appams instead. I’ve been to this place a long time ago and I must say that if you like your food steaming hot and spicy, you know where to head the next time you’re in the vincinity!