Product Details

• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Red Int / Red Ink
• DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000IFQLK0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,319 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

SATRIANI LIVE - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Satriani Live, Cameramen Schizoid!, November 7, 2006

By 

Peter M. Roche - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Joe Satriani: Satriani Live! (DVD)

This Satriani live video event is less glitzy than "Live in San Francisco" from 2000. The Anaheim stage is sparse, not as many lights, and Joe and the guys just get down to business, which in this case involves performing most of the material from the 2006 album "Super Colossal," with only five older tunes thrown in for variety (Blue Dream, Cool #9, Summer Song, Potato Head, Extremist). The technique is stellar as always--you can count on that from Joe. But they must have used between eight and twelve cameras to film this concert, because they jump cut between them constantly. You don't stay with a single camera angle for any longer than three seconds, so it gets annoying. I'd have filmed a more "guitar fan" friendly video with just a single hand-held DVD cam. The whole idea should be to make Joe and his fingers the main attraction. Joe is certainly the focal point here, but the trouble is one second you're looking at him from overhead, the next you're looking at him from a distance, the next you're looking at him several feet away from the left...you get the idea. You're not gonna pick up a lot of Joe's guitar technique by studying this. It's just too jumpy, which is an insult to fans of instrumental rock, who by definition have shown over the years that we're not ADHD kids hooked on stutter-shot MTV production values. For God's sake, next time just take a camera--ONE camera--and train it on Joe for a while without moving. The sound is good here, but you'll get dizzy watching it. The clamshell DVD case should come with dramamine tablets! Good bonus features, though. A lot of content on this two DVD set for the price.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satch stretches out!, November 7, 2006

By 

Mariusar "Mariusar" (NYC, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joe Satriani: Satriani Live! (DVD)

Previous reviews make the point about the subpar camera work quite clear - 'nuff said.

I've been a Satch fanantic for 20 years now[!!]. I have everything he's ever done and while I especially love his work in the late '80's with Stu Hamm and Rod Morgenstern [what I call Joe's "Golden Age" - check out the live B-side of the "Dreaming #11" EP], I love everything Joe puts out. But I must admit that this new double-DVD set is really exceptional, primarily because IMHO we finally get to see and hear Joe stretch out musically.

While "Live In SF" was fantastic, at times I felt it was a bit too clean and polished, almost antisceptic-feeling, and that the song renditions were, for the most part, too-perfect perfomances of the studio tracks. Not a whole lot of musical improvisation overall. But this new LIVE! DVD really caught Joe and company extending themselves, especially on some of the older stuff.

I also feel the same as others did about having too many versions of Satch-standards like "Flying...", "Always...", and "Summer Song", but on this DVD, all the oldies have been stretched out Joe breathes new life on everything. Go and listen to "Circles", the extended ending improv on "Always...", the swinging, jazzy feel of "Cool#9", the exceptionally moody intro to "Flying..." - all the old stuff simply rocks and feels so incredibly fresh because Joe's pushed things around, changed things up and flexes those fingers.

As for the Super Colossal heavy set-list. Overall, I very much like the new studio CD [though for me too, Crystal Planet is still one of my favorites], but yes, I too would have preferred to have a better mix of tracks from throughout the Satch catalog. You can't please everyone! But again Joe's performance on the new stuff here just makes me laugh...he is just so damn good it is scary. Every tune from the studio CD is simply phenomenal on this live set, especially the ripping "One Robot's Dream", "Cool New Way" and "Redshift Riders" [a track I only like on the studio version, but just love here]. Oh and I do like the fact that he left the few guitar-ooopsies on "Redshift" on the final mix - it proves Joe to be human after all!

I've been lucky enough to see Joe play live 30+ times over the last couple of decades. I even got a chance to meet and talk with him and the boys [everything you hear and read about Joe is absolutely true - he is completely missing the all the "I'm a rockstar" and "Yes, I am a guitar-god" genes]. And every time I see him play live, I come away knowing I've just seen a guy doing something he absolutely loves. Joe truly is a master of the instrument.

Buy this DVD. Buy the CD. Watch and listen carefully. I really think you will hear stuff here from Joe that hasn't been captured live before.

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Joe, Horrific Camerawork, October 22, 2006

By 

Michael Developer "amazon3748" (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joe Satriani: Satriani Live! (DVD)

3.5 Stars: I saw this on HDNET and decided to buy the DVD because it features excellent sound. But let's call it like it is. I feel that I should quit my job and go into musical camerawork and direction. Let's start with that portion. Satch is all instrumental so the parts where he's soloing intensely instead of playing the singnature riffs would probably be the single most important times to focus on Joe's playing. Only someone brain dead would pan to the crowd, go behind the band, take distant shots when this is occurring - but that is exactly what happens, especially during Surfing With The Alien, perhaps the signature song of this incredible artist. Pathetic. At least the sound quality is excellent. But Joe does discuss the fact that HD cameras are there and the effect of them - perhaps this is what gives much of the performance a "technical feel" or maybe it's just Eric Johnson's band backing him or a combo of the two. Songs are rushed a little and don't have the trademark rhythmic feel like on the albums. Always With Me Always With You didn't have that smooth, breathless beauty that it is on the album and too jazzed up for a live concert sound. The crowd seemed to enjoy the performance but weren't exactly overwhelmed, like the entire performance - with the exception of the last two songs which highlighted the performance - Crowd Chant and Summer Song. Those two really felt like Joe had finally settled down with the band and just belted it out and had fun instead of worrying about playing for the cameras, which you can see at times and aren't too subtle. This is why taking pieces of different shows is the best way to create a live DVD, you can't take the best parts of the concerts and splice them together. I don't think I've ever seen a show where I didn't think that this guy is the most incredibly talented soloist I have ever seen but this DVD only gets you part of the way there, thanks to inadequate planning, production, and camerawork.