Photo: Kylie Keene

It appears as though I’ve underestimated the pulling power of one of rock music’s greatest living guitarists. A diverse range of fans have filled the venue, and gaze happily at Dejan Toracki and his two bandmates. The man is an accomplished and talented guitarist who happily defines himself within the genre of surf rock – that is, songs that are influenced by his time spent surfing in the ocean. It sounds a bit fruity on paper, I know, but his compositions are nothing short of compelling. Toracki’s style perfectly complements tonight’s headliner: chunky, high-gain riffs interspersed with blindingly fast and complex lead guitar arrangements. The crowd is enamoured of Toracki by set’s end; his truly excellent supporting performance is one of the most satisfying in recent memory.

There are few who are more aptly suited to the title of guitar hero than Joe Satriani. Twenty years in the business, ten million albums sold – you know the story. The cheesy-as-hell I Just Wanna Rock from his newly released thirteenth album opens the set, and I wet myself a little when he dabbles in very tasteful use of the voice box guitar effect. The tone for the evening is set. Satch pulls every imaginable jaw-dropping guitar technique out of his proverbial hat, but after an hour, the crowd’s attention starts to wonder. My accomplice dozes off, and I spy a few punters browsing last week’s issue of this esteemed publication. The attention of casual attendees is reigned in by Stuart Hamm’s enchanting bass guitar solo, which recreates and builds upon Zeppelin’s Going To California – yes, really. Satriani performs a multitude of his most notable – Ice 9, One Big Rush, Satch Boogie, and a truly brilliant reading of Surfing With The Alien – but an exit poll (sample size: four) concludes that those two hours of guitar wizardry would be better suited to one and a half.

ANDREW MCMILLEN

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