Keith Watanabe * NET 2.0

Just finished this DVD. WOW! These guys just blew me away. Steve Vai most of all left me speechless. All three invest so much effort into putting their personality into their craft. However, there's something just so quirky and out there that makes Steve Vai's playing really stand out. That's not taking anything away from Satriani nor Malmsteen, but just how incredible Vai is. He's definitely the guitarist's guitar hero. What i found amazing was his incorporation of everyone in his section into a true performance piece. He doesn't just try to show off, but he's pulling everything together in some mad schema that plays off each other. With Satriani, he's definitely the quintessential rock guitar god. Everything he does is just perfect (Vai too, but is there's a step beyond perfection, Vai's mastered that :p). Satriani just knows every note on the fretboard and incorporates so many techniques and styles yet he manages to have his own sound as well. Where Vai's sound is quirky in this zainy, humorous prose, Satriani is more abstract like someone attempting to defy space and time. When you hear his solos they're ambient and futuristic at the same time. I think high tech when I listen to him as if he's attempting to push the envelope with his sound and playing. Malmsteen is the all-around performer. I can't call Malmsteen sloppy but he's more reckless, like the motorcylces he used to ride through the halls of his high school. Yet within that demonic spell of fury there's this melodic, very contrived tune arising from his classical influence. It's the only structure that binds his soul and playing to the ground. At any moment, he's ready to rip off and fly like a meteorite into a planet. Yet while you're flying with him, there's a calm centered in his playing because of that classical influence. It's like these two worlds battling out constantly that define Malmsteen's playing. Either way, if you're a true guitar lover, this is the essential collectors item. I just wish I could see them live!