Hello everyone,
Friday the 13th of june my girlfriend and I went to a show of Joe Satriani at Paradiso, Amsterdam. What a great show! It was the first time I saw Joe live and he played great! But there were also some disappointments…. First of all, we were sitting on the left balcony….and guess where Joe played? Right, also on the left side…so every time he used his effects and pedals we could see him barely. Why is he not playing in the center or a bit more to the right side of the stage? I think he should know where his fans are and make sure everyone can see as much as they can.
Afterwards we want to take a picture with Joe and let him sign a cd. We went to some crew member and asked if this was possible. He said “I don’t know, we should leave in 30 minutes…I don’t know where Joe is”….so we walked outside to the tour busses and asked another crewmember. He said “Do you have tickets for the after show?”…of course we didn’t had those, I even didn’t know we had to buy tickets….So apparently you only can take a picture with you IF you pay for it. The crewmembers were very arrogant and rude.
It made me so mad….we waited for about 45 minutes after the show, we asked some crewmembers but it just seemed impossible to take a picture with Joe and let him sign something! All we wanted was a picture and a signed cd, that takes 2 minutes….I bought all his cd’s, dvd’s, I have one of his signature guitar so I spend about more than € 2000,- euro’s to buy all his stuff. Why did I buy this? Because he’s a great guitar player, he always seems nice in interviews and stuff and I thought he deserved it…But now I know better…
So his last cd is the last cd I bought. I’m not gonna buy stuff from artists who don’t make time for their fans and realize that all the success they have is because of their fans. So if he releases new stuff…what I’m gonna do? Right, download it. I’m not spending any more money to him.
And what’s the deal with the expensive merchandise? I wanted to buy some cool stuff but it’s soo expensive. A signed poster €10,- euro! A simple pick… €3,- euro! For 1 pick! Come on! That’s
ridicules! I can afford it but it’s against my principles….Why not ask €1,- euro for a pick? He still earns on that and a lot more people would buy it.
I also went to Steve Vai, and well…he came outside after some time to take pictures with fans….I also met Dave Weiner and he was giving picks away for free! I met Tom DeLonge 1 month ago and I talked with him for about 20 minutes…Why do those artists make time for their fans? Because they know that they buy their stuff and support them….
Joe is still my favorite guitar player but he totally blew it that evening. I will keep listening to his music but I will never buy anything from him again….I want a apologize from him or his management before I buy cd’s again and go to his show…
All I want to say with this is that I find it ridicules that such an artist as Joe won’t make time for their fans. Don’t say that everyone wants a picture and sign things because we waited about 45 minutes…everyone was gone, except me and about 10 other fans so the least thing he could do was make some time….
Greetz!
