Satchless in Philly: A letter to Joe
Mr. Satriani:
I am a religious Satch concert-goer who has missed your last two fly-bys of Philadelphia. If I may be so bold (for we wizards are subtle...), I take exception with your choice in venues, as well as the day of the week chosen for the gigs. Last summer, the G3 stop in Philadelphia was at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside. Great venue, to be sure, but the place only has about 400 seats, putting the odds of getting a non-scalped (i.e.- 'affordable') ticket somewhere just between 'Snowball's chance' and 'No way, Jose'. Two weeks ago, the Dream theater/ King's X/ Satriani combo tour came to the Philly 'area' (the much detested Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ, to be exact). The gig was on a Sunday, and was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Not to be a whiner, but figure an opening act and two main attractions makes for a late night for those of us non-rock stars who need to drive back over the bridge into our own states, and get up for the 6 a.m. wake-up/ work call. How is it that Philly (the 5th or 6th biggest metropolitan area in the country) doesn't rate a stop within city limits? You used to play at the Tower and the Electric factory, which are decent-sized venues. If you prefer outdoors, we still have the Mann Center, roughly comparable to the Tweeter in size. Philly fans HATE lugging across the river to Camden. They dislike the higher prices associated with tickets, parking and the whole nine yards. Please play in Philly sometime soon! OK, I'll shut up now...