The SatchVai Band recently treated fans to a spectacular jam at a show in Portland, covering two bona fide rock classics and littering them with three-part guitar harmonies and oodles of guitar solos.
The band, spearheaded by resident virtuosos Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, powered through a high octane take on Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, before riding through Steppenwolf’s ever-cool Born to be Wild.
The show at the 2,700-capacity Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was the second date of the band's latest run, marking their first dates since last summer and their first US run.
The Surfing with the Hydra tour is now making its way across the US for the first time. Before, the SatchVai Band's only show on home soil prior to this tour was a debut gig in New York in 2024.
So, to mark the occasion, they dropped in two rock guitar staples into their encore.
Marco Mendoza handled vocals pretty damn well across the two songs, but given the context of the night, all eyes were on the fretboards of Vai, Satriani, and their well-picked third guitarist, Pete Thorn. It was the latter, after some extravagant three-part harmonies, who delivered the first solo, unleashing a flurry of hot pentatonic licks on his Suhr signature guitar.
Vai was next up, and as is to be expected, there was a little more weirdness sprinkled in, including some whammy-lavished mimicking of Robert Plant’s crooning vocal lines, all while staying faithfully in blues rock territory.
Satriani actually didn’t get his chance to strut his stuff until Born to Be Wild, and he serves up tapping and harmonic licks aplenty. It's like his time in the Best of All Worlds band is rubbing off on him.
There was also a tasty wah solo from Thorn, more screaming leads from Vai, and some dextrous arpeggios from Satch, who was seen to be rocking his EVH-coded 3rd Power Dragon amps. A nod to Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love to top it all off was a doozy, too.
The band’s first US tour sees Animals As Leaders in tow – for even more virtuosity – and a SatchVai album has been teased for the near future. They released their third single, Dancing, earlier this year, with the help of Dethklok’s Brendon Small.
