For nearly three decades, Joe Satriani’s G3 tour has served as a gathering place for some of the world’s most formidable guitarists. A revolving door of six-string virtuosos, from Steve Vai to Eric Johnson, has graced its stage—but one name remained conspicuously absent: Eddie Van Halen.
Not for lack of trying.
Satriani, ever eager to bring the Van Halen legend into the fold, made repeated attempts to extend an invitation. “I called Eddie’s number, office, whatever, almost every time,” he reveals in a new interview on the UCR Podcast. “I didn’t want to be a pest, but I didn’t know him. So I couldn’t just call his house or stop by, because I don’t live in the same city. I would go through channels—you know, I tried every angle to say, ‘We’ll take care of everything.’”
The G3 format, after all, was designed to be as seamless as possible for its guests. “We made it so it was the easiest thing for the artist to come,” Satriani explains. “In terms of Ed, we always made the offer that we could put the band together. He could play whenever he wanted. He could play for as long as he wanted.”
Yet, despite these open-ended invitations, Van Halen never responded. “I literally never heard back,” Satriani admits. After six or seven attempts, he began to accept the reality: “Maybe it’s just not his thing. Not everybody is comfortable standing next to two other guitar players every single night.”
And that, perhaps, was the key. Van Halen was never one for collaborative side projects. Unlike some guitarists who sought out additional outlets for their playing, he had no need to step outside his own band. “Certain bands provide enough for their guitar players to do whatever they want,” Satriani muses. “The Edge, right? He can do whatever he wants in U2, and so could Van Halen. It’s not like he needed G3.”
While Eddie remained elusive, another dream lineup came tantalizingly close—only to slip through Satriani’s fingers at the last moment. “The one that was so close to really happening was me with Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons,” he recalls. “I think we were a week away from actually putting it in ink in the books. Then, Jeff bailed at the last moment. I think he used the excuse [that] he thought it would be better if we toured with Prince.”
Satriani laughs at the memory. “I took that as a really good joke, like, he just didn’t want to do it, so he came up with the most ridiculous suggestion.”
His interactions with Beck were fleeting. “I met Jeff twice, but I can’t say I really knew him,” he says. “So there was no way for me to ever talk to him about it, like, ‘Why didn’t it happen?’”
Despite these near-misses, G3 has seen its share of legendary guests. “Once in a while, somebody would agree or just show up and say, ‘I want to play.’ And it would be [guitarists] like Brian May, Neal Schon or Robert Fripp. So we’ve been really fortunate in that respect.”
Still, Satriani can’t help but reflect on the ones that got away. “Certainly, Jeff Beck and Edward.”
Meanwhile, the original G3 lineup—Satriani, Vai, and Eric Johnson—reunited in early 2024 for the first time since their inaugural run in 1996. The resulting album, G3 Reunion Live, captures their performances in full. Satriani and Vai, now focused on their SatchVai project, will hit the road together once again this summer.
Van Halen may never have joined G3, but the idea of him trading licks with Satriani and Vai remains a tantalizing “what if” in the annals of guitar history.
