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Joe Satriani – 1988.06.11 – San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA [SBD]

Joe Satriani was inspired to play guitar at age 14, after hearing of the death of Jimi Hendrix.  He has been said to have heard the news during football practice, where he then announced to his coach that he was quitting to become a guitarist.  In 1974, Satriani studied music with jazz guitarist Billy Bauer and with reclusive jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. The technically demanding Tristano greatly influenced Satriani’s playing.  Satriani began teaching guitar, with his most notable student at the time being fellow Long Island native Steve Vai (both also went to the same high school). While he was teaching Vai, he was attending Five Towns College for studies in music.  Satriani moved to Berkely in 1978, and soon after he started playing in a San Francisco-based band called The Squares, where he continued to network and make musical connections (Squares sound man John Cuniberti co-produced his second album). He was invited to join the Greg Kihn Band, who were on the downside of their career, but whose generosity helped Satriani pay off the overwhelming credit card debt from recording his first album Not of This Earth.  In 1987, Satriani’s second album Surfing with the Alien produced radio hits and was the first all-instrumental release to chart so highly in many years. The track “Crushing Day” was featured on the soundtrack of a low-budget film titled It Takes Two.  Surfing with the Alien is his most acclaimed work.  This great sounding soundboard bootleg, finds Satriani on the Surfing with the Alien tour in San Diego, CA.

Robin Trower – 1974.11.21 – Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA [SBD]

Robin Trower  is an English rock guitarist and vocalist who achieved success with Procol Harum during the 1960s, and then again as the bandleader of his own power trio.  Trower was born in Catford, London, but grew up in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. In 1962, he formed a group that became The Paramounts, later including Westcliff High School pupil Gary Brooker. The Paramounts disbanded in 1966 to pursue individual projects. During this time, Trower created a local three-piece band called The Jam (not to be confused with the later group with Paul Weller). Trower then joined Brooker’s new band Procol Harum following the success of their debut single “A Whiter Shade of Pale” in 1967, remaining with them until 1971 and appearing on Procol Harum‘s first five albums.  Trower retained Dewar as his bassist, who took on lead vocals as well, and recruited drummer Reg Isidore (later replaced by Bill Lordan) to form the Robin Trower Band in 1973.  Perhaps Trower’s most famous album is Bridge of Sighs (1974). That is where this soundboard bootleg finds them…. touring in support of Bridge of Sighs.

  Van Halen – 1983.05.29 – US Festival, San Bernadino, CA [SBD]

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. From 1974 until 1985, the band consisted of guitarist Eddie Van Halen, vocalist David Lee Roth, drummer Alex Van Halen, and bassist Michael Anthony.  The band went on to become major stars, and by the early 1980s they were one of the most successful rock acts of the time. Upon its release, Van Halen reached No. 19 on the Billboard pop music charts, one of rock’s most commercially successful debuts. It was highly regarded as both a heavy metal and hard rock album. The album included songs now regarded as Van Halen classics, like “Runnin’ with the Devil” and the guitar solo “Eruption“, which showcased Eddie’s use of a technique known as “finger-tapping”. The band toured for nearly a year, opening for Black Sabbath and establishing a reputation for their performances. The band’s chemistry owed much to Eddie Van Halen’s technical guitar wizardry and David Lee Roth’s flamboyant antics and stage persona, strong points which later made them rivals. The band returned to the studio in late 1978 to record Van Halen II, a 1979 album similar in style to their debut. This record yielded the band’s first hit single, “Dance the Night Away.” Over the next few years, the band alternated album releases and touring. Their Women and Children First album was released in 1980 and further cemented Van Halen‘s status. But in 1981, during the recording of the Fair Warning album, tensions rose. Eddie’s desire for more serious and complex songs was at odds with Roth’s poppy style. Nonetheless, Roth (and producer Templeman) acquiesced to Eddie’s wishes. Diver Down performed better. The band then earned a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest-paid single appearance of a band: $1.5 million for a 90-minute set at the 1983 US Festival, which is where we find them tonight.