I've saw Satch first at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney touring after "Flying in a Blue Dream" was released. I remember that was a surreal experience - I was about 20 at the time. I think I was a bit overwhelmed by getting to see one of my guitar heros. Funniest thing was, towards the end he was going into this Zen type solo where he was in the middle of the stage, on his knees and arching way back, shredding away - they had it up so loud that one of the speaker bins on the right side of the stage vibrated off the one below it, bounced on the deck and then creamed some poor dude sitting in the front row :eek: (he wasn't hurt, amazingly). Joe just kept on playing. He played unreal, with heaps of feel and a great tone and everything was just like off his albums.

Vai I saw next, a few years later at Selinas at Cronulla, after his 4th record(name alludes me). He played everything note-for-note, did all that posing and gesticulating in front of a big fan blowing his hair around and towards the end I was, quite frankly, ready to go. He had all the trick effects, weird sounds and whammy bar antics but from what I remember he lacked a lot in the tone department. He sang quite a bit and I've never been a fan of his singing either. Definitely an anti climax for me. However, to date, "Blue Powder" remains one of my absolute favourites.

Yngwie I saw last, about 4 years ago and again at Selinas. When he came out on stage he had a pretty big gut on him, frizzy thinning hair and he still wore these ridiculously tight leather pants. Well he mightn't have looked the part but one thing was for sure though, he didn't F@#K around - I swear there were sparks coming off his fretboard all night. ;) I couldn't believe he maintained that intensity for the whole show. I enjoyed his gig way more than Vai's and also more than Satch's, and his showmanship throwing around of his strat was kinda cool in a strange way. Yngwie's tone was amazing and unlike Vai and Satch he didn't peg himself into note-for-note soloing - the improv's were an obvious reflection of his artistic ability and confidence with the instrument. More of a true rock gig though, as Yngwie brought a kick ass vocalist with him and I can't remember his name but he was amazing. Malmsteen even sang and played a Hendrix number (I think it was "Spanish Castle Magic") - his voice actually sounded just like Jimi's, like he was channelling him or something - mind you he didn't play that song anything like Jimi, it was unmistakably Yngwie.

Yngwie Who? Yngwie F@#king Malmsteen! (I still have the tee-shirt) LOL.