SEATTLE, WA: How to get BACKSTAGE?

microdmitry · #1 10-14-2003, 04:37 AM

Is there a well known way to get backstage and ask Steve, Joe and Yngwie for autographs and stuff? I can't believe the only three people who will be let backstage are the folks who won backstage passes on satriani.com! There's got to be a way!

davester1234 · #2 10-14-2003, 10:17 AM

Go to vai.com forum, sign your name on the attendance list for the correct show, and you'll be entered for the backstage pass draw.

vaijem777 · #3 10-14-2003, 11:12 AM

The Vai.com drawing is for the AFTERSHOW meet-n-greet. Nobody will be giving away "backstage" passes. The last thing an artist wants before going on is a bunch of drooling fans messing up their mojo.

davester1234 · #4 10-14-2003, 06:59 PM

ah, i thought it was backstage passes.

microdmitry · #5 10-15-2003, 01:31 AM

Sorry for the confusion. I meant aftershow passes of course.

rikkbeatty · #6 10-15-2003, 01:40 PM

Dont worry man,

EVERY show I have been to of Vai's he always has come out behind the Paramount Theater to sign any and all autographs for people. Don bust your back trying to get backstage. Allot of times if you are there early enough though, some of the roadies will bring meet and greet pass stickers out to give to people. Back stage passes actually cost bucks though (even if you buy them in large quantities) and they try to limit the amount of people that have full acess. I had my band and crew's back stage passes made from the same place that makes them for Dream Theater and a bunch of other huge bands. They turned out unreal!!!!

microdmitry · #7 10-16-2003, 05:43 AM

I followed Rikk's advice and stayed after the show. I got to talk to Steve, got TWO of his autographs and even shook his hand. Man, what I nice guy he is. Yngwie was an ass - he said he will sign stuff if the people come to his bus one by one accompanied by a guard. So overall only about 10 people got autographs. Steve signed everything and it seems that he talked to everyone who talked to him.

Tony MacAlpine and Billy Sheehan also came out and signed stuff, but only Steve took it all the way and went though the entire crowd.

A surprise for me was his height. I thought he was quite a bit taller than he really is.

As to the show itself, the show was awesome.

Yngwie was weird as usual (though at this show he was sober), and shredded all the way through his set. He was opening the show. The guy knows how to control the crowd, that's for sure. Yngwie's tone sucked balls though. He wasn't cutting through at all and everything he played sounded just like a bunch of bubbly shreddy wanking.

Then Steve came out with his three-neck guitar. As Rikk (hey Rikk, I was the guy in the yellow jacket right behind ya!) said it was 12 string, 6 string and 6 string fretless. That was one weird guitar. Steve also played Juice, Whispering a Prayer, For the Love of God and a couple other things. Great tone, breathtaking performance, one of the best live performances of For The Love of God I've ever seen (on DVD, I've never seen Steve live before). Whispering a Prayer was oh so sweet, too. Billy Sheehan and Tony MacAlpine totally ruled, too.

Then Joe came out and the crowd was already boiling hot. Joe had the best tone at this show (to my taste) and cut through the band like a hot knife through a chunk of butter (even when I was wearing ear plugs). A couple of old things, a couple of new things, Joe was kicking ass despite him screwing up Midnight. His best there was Starry Night (again to my taste).

Then all three came out and played together. Yngwie looked kinda funny with all his 80's guitar tricks and acting like he's the only one on the stage (while most of the crowd didn't even notice him). Good thing is, he threw a LOT of picks into the crowd, so whoever cares for Yngwie have probably gotten their picks.

Overall, this was the best show I've seen in my life bar none. It was even better than DVD version of G3 (which I think includes the best cuts). It was totally overwhelming. In fact I think each set alone was overwhelming and imagine seeing FOUR of them in a row.

I say, it was money well spent.

rikkbeatty · #8 10-16-2003, 10:45 AM

Hey man you should have said something!!

Yeah that was allot of fun. There were MANY more people waiting for autographs last night than normal. I got a few things autographed by Yngwie. There was a HUGE line outside of his bus that none of us saw. It was pretty unorganized. To be honest I think that if Yngwie was not there, there would have been less people waiting for autographs. Not to say anything bad against Joe or Steve but there were allot of hungry Yngwie autograph fans that had not seen him in concert for a LONG time. The most people I have seen waiting for autographs for Steve or Joe was around 20 or so. Last night was almost ridiculous!!! lol

It was a kickin show though!!

microdmitry · #9 10-16-2003, 01:53 PM

So there WAS a signing line behind the bus? Not that I care, I was just wondering if that security guy was throwing BS at us.

I should have said hi, I guess. I just kinda feel uncomfortable coming out of the woodwork and approaching people like that. That was one sweet UVMC, though. Good luck with your stuff! I hope Steve gives it a good listen in the near future.

rikkbeatty · #10 10-16-2003, 02:12 PM

Thanks man. Yeah that security guy was......... interesting...... lol

Yeah I always love meeting up with fellow JEMSITE people especially at shows!!

Maybe we can hook up at the next one or something?

rikkbeatty · #11 10-16-2003, 06:06 PM

Hey far out... I just found out that the company that does my band's backstage passes and guest passes did the passes for the G3 tour as well!!! I thought the quality and type looked familiar!!! (Not your normal laminated cheesy "I could do this at Kinko's myself" passes).

quickdraw · #12 10-16-2003, 11:25 PM

microdmitry, I have to agree with you... that was definiteley one of the top shows Ive seen and "The best G3 Line up so far(IMHO). Although I dont think Yngwie's tone sucked, from where I was he sounded pretty damn amazing... but his tone definiteley improved for the jams at the end... those harmonies they were pulling off were amazing (almost as cool as when Steve, Billie, Dave and Tony were harmonizing those harmonics and playing on each others necks). Still quite overwhelmed by the show... I sure hope they release a DVD SOON! I only hung out by the back door for about 10 minutes while the crowd was forming...

I guess I should have been more patient.

microdmitry · #13 10-17-2003, 01:16 AM

You'd have to be a LOT more patient. Yngwie came out after about an hour, and we had to wait some more for Steve.

microdmitry · #14 10-17-2003, 03:32 AM

As a side note, Joe seemed to play Peavey Triple XXX amps pretty much exclusively.

rikkbeatty · #15 10-17-2003, 11:22 AM

Yeah I was surprised to see Joe playing those. This is the first time I have seen Vai playing through his Legacy amp exclusively and not having a Bogner somewhere close with a mic on it. II thought Yngwie was endorsed by Crate or something so seeing him with the "Wall o' Marshall amps" was a surprise as well. They all sounded.... just like they normally sound though!! lol You could put Vai on a Harmony guitar through a pignose amp and he will still sound JUST like Steve Vai!! lol Rockin as always and making you want to go out and buy a Harmony guitar and a Pignose amp!! lol