Fire Garden Tours
1 & 1/2 years long
Fall of 1996 was the very 1st G3 Tour. Eric Johnson was on this tour with us and Joe Satriani. The drum tech duties were served by Rob Corsie. Rob had worked with the great drummer & friend, Deen Castronovo. The tour started at the Concord Pavilion in San Fran, went east across the USA, back west, and ended in Seattle at the Paramount. |
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The drum kit used on this 1st ever Vai tour for Mike was his roto-tom kit. Bleeding over from the last Extreme tour, the symmetrical/apex set up proved to be the perfect kit to accompany Vai's mad guitar runs. Complimented by 2 huge 24" bass drums & Philip Bynoe's rock solid bass playing, the songs seems to translate very well in the usually 'airy' outdoor venues. The Keneally solo was a special time as well. The kit allows for dynamic orchestration. Anyone who saw this Vai band live, saw smiles all night. What they didn't see were those smiles continuing onto the tour bus every single day. |
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This is the very 1st kit used with Vai. That is 6 pages of music on the stand. Somehow, the transcriptions had notes on the wrong lines, and upside down tabs. Technology was new then for this. Sleep wasn't too much of an option during the 3 days. However, The huge kit worked really well with the 63 piece orchestra. It was Magee's 1st gig. What a great experience for all. |
The Vai FireGarden tour picked up December 1st in New Orleans at the House of Blues, and went up the Eastern USA ending in Old Bridge New Jersey at the Birch Hill Club. After a short Christmas break and 2 rehearsals, the Band left for Bangkok Thailand on January 19th, zipped all throughout Asia, skipped over to Australia from Jakarta, visited Auckland New Zealand, and blasted up to S. Korea on February 19th. |
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Joel Thome & Steve rehearsing orchestra |
The S. American, and final leg of the non-G3 FireGarden Tour, picked up soon after in March of 1997 leaving April off for the Band. |
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Steve, Phil & Mike w/Orchestra |
| In May of 1997, G3 Europe brought us through France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Adrian Legg joined the Vai tour bus and opened up the shows while Joe Satriani ended it. This tour started in Rotterdam, went as far south as Milan, back up through Europe to Northern England, then ended in London. It was the 1st G3 tour for drum tech Magee, and it brought him to this great continent for the 1st time. |  |
Below is the Fire Garden Touring Kit shown in Tokyo.
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| The summer & fall of 1997 brought us through North America accompanied by Robert Fripp, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Joe Satriani. This tour started in Quebec City, went through the East Coast of the USA, west to Vancouver, south then east across the USA ending in Sunrise Florida. |  |
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BOSTON'S BEST RHYTHM SECTION 1 ST PLACE 1989 Photo Below |
"I really, really wanted Philip Bynoe in this band. I felt that this music, given my drum parts, needs a bass that glues together the guitar work and the drums. Usually, everything builds off of the drums, but this music to me is in need of a connection to the movement of air that can only be done on bass guitar because the drums are both keeping the beat AND orchestrating everything else. The drums don't really have to orchestrate as much as I did, but my perspective on orchestrating music matches Steve's, and therefore DEMANDS the kind of playing that existed with this unit. |
"It is no mistake that fans saw us smiling every night we played. I personally had a feeling of completeness with this unit every show." |
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