As the lights go down and Joe Satriani strolls over to the talkbox rigged up for ‘I Just Wanna Rock’, I take a couple of seconds to contemplate whether what I’m doing tonight could ever be described as ‘work’.

You see, there is no better feeling than being front row at a gig taking photos of one of your idols - It’s times like this when you realise you really REALLY love what you do.

It all started with ‘Surfing With the Alien’. Before that I had only had my ears bent to the sounds of bloated radio pop garbage, but since my awakening I’ve followed Joe Satriani through all of his albums and across many different genres and boundaries.

There’s only ever been one thing thats nagged me about Satch and thats been the similarity of his set lists over the years but tonight he puts that to rest. Switching it up with new material from his newly released ‘Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock’ album and old classics, Joe drops a couple of rarely played gems in, the highlight of which is undoubtedly ‘Time Machine’ (which just so happens to be my favourite Satch song).

It’s also great to see such a strong band with Joe - theres always something special in the air when Joe brings Stu Hamm along, but it’s great to see Jeff Campitelli has matured into such a great drummer these days. And as for Galen Henson - what an amazing rhythm guitarist!

Photographers Comments.

Newcastle City Hall always puts on a great light show and its a dream to be able to shoot there - Joes flashing backdrops also added something extra, and theres the small matter of Joes Raaaaawk poses which kinda make it difficult to take any photos which are shit.