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Joe satriani, steve vai announce 2024 spring us tour.

Posted by Buddy Iahn | Nov 8, 2023

The trek marks the first time the duo have toured together outside of G3

Fresh on the heels of the exciting G3 Reunion of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson, comes The Satch-Vai Tour launching on March 22nd in Orlando. The tour will hit Atlanta, Boston, New York, DC, Detroit, Minneapolis and more before winding up in Salt Lake City on May 8th with 31 shows announced and more on the way. This marks the first time that the long-time friends have toured as a duo bill. In additional exciting news, for the first time, they will collaborate on new music with plans to release it just before the tour launches in March.

The artist pre-sale will begin on Monday, November 13th at 10 am local time with the general on-sale taking place on Friday, November 17th at 10 am local time.

Satch and Vai’s musical careers have been intertwined since their very early days. Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher during their teenage years on Long Island, New York. Their connection has continued to evolve over the years, even sharing record labels, starting at Relativity Records in the late 80’s, to both calling Sony/Epic Records home for a significant portion of the 90’s. Together, they have also frequently teamed up with a third guitarist on multiple occasions throughout the span of 29 years, participating in the semi-annual G3 Tours, both in the US and abroad.

“The Satch/Vai Tour is happening! I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again,” exclaims Satriani. “Every time we play together it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we’ve never stopped!”

Sharing the excitement, Vai adds, “Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honor. He is my favorite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game and that the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!”

In April 2022, Satriani released The Elephants of Mars , his 19th studio album during his 35+ year musical career. Last fall, he embarked on a worldwide tour that spanned the US and culminated in France on June 4th. Satriani has also ventured into the world of art , creating original canvases and hand-painted guitars, which are currently available through the Wentworth Gallery. Satriani frequently makes special appearances at the showings where purchasers of his works are treated to a private performance within the gallery.

Vai has been traveling the world since the release of Inviolate . When the current tour plays its’ final show in December, he will have staged appearances in 51 countries across the globe since the album first came out. Some for the very first time. Alongside Inviolate , in the recent past, Vai released an archival album titled Vai/Gash he had been holding in his archive for three decades.

Joe Satriani & Steve Vai 2024 The Satch-Vai Tour Dates:

Mar 22 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live-Orlando Mar 23 – Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach Amphitheater Mar 25 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall Mar 26 – Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre Mar 27 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall Mar 29 – North Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Performing Arts Center Mar 30 – Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center Apr 2 – Charlotte, NC @ Belk Theater Apr 3 – Richmond, VA @ Dominion Energy Center Apr 5 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre Boston Apr 6 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre Apr 7 – Waterbury, CT @ Waterbury Palace Theater Apr 8 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Center for the Arts Apr 10 – Collingswood, NJ @ Scottish Rite Auditorium Apr 11 – Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre DC Apr 13 – Northfield, OH @ MGM Northfield Park Apr 14 – Rochester, NY @ Kodak Center Theater Apr 16 – Detroit, MI @ Fisher Theatre Apr 18 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre Apr 19 – Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center Apr 20 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Embassy Theatre Apr 21 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre Apr 23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater Apr 24 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre Apr 25 – Des Moines, IA @ Des Moines Civic Center Apr 28 – La Vista, NE @ The Astro May 1 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater May 3 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater May 5 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall May 7 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre May 8 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Hall at Eccles Theater

About The Author

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: [email protected]

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Steve Vai Books 26-Date Summer 2023 North American Tour

Have guitar, will travel! Steve Vai is set to scorch North American stages this summer as part of his 2023 Inviolate World Tour. The guitar great just revealed 26 new North American stops that will keep him stateside through the summer.

This comes on the heels of previously announced shows in South America and Mexico that will fill the month of June, kicking off June 3 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. As for the North American run, you can look for Vai launching the run July 16 in Tucson, Arizona, with shows booked through an Aug. 19 finale in Monterey, California. See all of the dates, cities and venues listed down toward the bottom of this post.

The tour comes in support of Vai's Inviolate album, while the guitarist also released the collaborative Vai/Gash album as well earlier this year. You can get tickets and a variety of EVO Experience VIP bundle packages through Vai's website .

READ MORE: Steve Vai Reunited With Stolen 'Swiss Cheese' Guitar After 36 Years

Back in February, Vai was asked about what's on his horizon. At the time, he told Full Metal Jackie , "A lot of tour prepping right now to continue the Inviolate tour because I had a solo record that came out a year ago. I've been touring my butt off on that. We did a wonderful run of Europe, a really great run in America and in March I go back out to Europe and Eastern Europe for a couple of months. Then I come back and I'm doing another American leg for about two-and-a half months. Then in August it's South America and Mexico and right after that, it's Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Asia... all those wonderful places. I think we're going to end it with Africa and India and by that time it'll be next Christmas." So stay tuned as more touring is yet to come.

Steve Vai 2023 Inviolate World Tour Dates

June 03 - Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Best of Blues and Rock Festival June 06 - Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Luna Park June 08 - Montevideo, Uruguay @ Sala del Museo June 11 - Lima, Peru @ Centro de Convenciones Barranco June 13 - Quito, Ecuador @ Teatro Nacional Casa de la Cultura June 15 - Santiago, Chile @ Theater Coliseo June 18 - San Jose, Costa Rica @ Pepper’s June 20 - Guadalajara, Mexico @ Diana Theater June 21 - Mexico City, Mexico @ Metropolitan Theater June 23 - Monterrey, Mexico @ Pabellon M July 16 - Tucson, Ariz. @ Rialto Theatre July 18 - Grand Junction, Colo. @ Mesa Theatre July 19 - Albuquerque, N.M. @ Revel July 20 - Midland, Texas @ La Hacienda July 21 - Little Rock, Ark. @ Little Rock Hall July 23 - New Orleans, La. @ Joy Theater July 25 - Nashville, Tenn. @ CMA Theater July 26 - Memphis, Tenn. @ Minglewood Hall July 27 - Peoria, Ill. @ Civic Center Theater July 28 - Clarksburg, W.V @ The Robinson Grand July 29 - Harrisburg, Pa. @ Whitaker Center July 30 - Wilkes-Barre, Pa. @ FM Kirby Center Aug. 01 - Bar Harbor, Maine @ The 1932 Criterion Theatre Aug. 02 - Halifax, Nova Scotia @ TBD Aug. 03 - Saint John, New Brunswick @ TBD Aug. 05 - Montreal, Quebec @ Corona Theatre Aug. 06 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Bronson Centre Aug. 08 - Toronto, Ontario @ Danforth Music Hall Aug. 10 - Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Burton Cummings Theatre Aug. 11 - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan @ Coors Event Centre Aug. 12 - Edmonton, Alberta @ Union Hall Aug. 13 - Calgary, Alberta @ The Palace Theatre Aug. 15 - Vancouver, British Columbia @ Rickshaw Theatre Aug. 16 - Spokane, Wash. @ Knitting Factory Aug. 17 - Bend, Ore. @ Midtown Ballroom Aug. 19 - Monterey, Calif. @ Golden State Theater

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Joe Satriani and Steve Vai Join Forces for Co-Headlining 2024 US Tour

The guitar shredders will hit the road together in March

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai are uniting for the “Satch/Vai” Spring 2024 US co-headlining tour. Update: In addition to his tour with Vai, Satriani will tour with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, and Jason Bonham in 2024 .

The trek will be the first time the two guitar shredders have hit the road together outside of their iconic G3 project with Eric Johnson. Dates kicks off March 22nd in Orlando and run through May 8th in Salt Lake City, with additional shows still to be announced.

Fans can also look for deals or get tickets to sold-out dates via StubHub , where your purchase is 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s Fan Protect program.

Get Joe Satriani and Steve Vai Tickets Here

“The Satch/Vai Tour is happening!” exclaimed Satriani via a press release. “I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again. Every time we play together it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we’ve never stopped!”

Vai shared his fellow shredder’s excitement: “Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honor. He is my favorite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game and that the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!”

Below you can see a full list of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai’s co-headlining tour dates. Get tickets here .

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai 2024 Tour Dates: 03/22 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live-Orlando 03/23 – Pompano Beach, FL @ Pompano Beach Amphitheater 03/25 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall 03/26 – Jacksonville, FL @ Florida Theatre 03/27 – Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall 03/29 – North Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Performing Arts Center 03/30 – Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center 04/02 – Charlotte, NC @ Belk Theater 04/03 – Richmond, VA @ Dominion Energy Center 04/05 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre Boston 04/06 – New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre 04/07 – Waterbury, CT @ Waterbury Palace Theater 04/08 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Center for the Arts 04/10 – Collingswood, NJ @ Scottish Rite Auditorium 04/11 – Washington, DC @ Warner Theatre DC 04/13 – Northfield, OH @ MGM Northfield Park 04/14 – Rochester, NY @ Kodak Center Theater 04/16 – Detroit, MI @ Fisher Theatre 04/18 – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre 04/19 – Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center 04/20 – Fort Wayne, IN @ Embassy Theatre 04/21 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat Theatre 04/23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater 04/24 – Minneapolis, MN @ State Theatre 04/25 – Des Moines, IA @ Des Moines Civic Center 04/28 – La Vista, NE @ The Astro 05/01 – Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater 05/03 – Austin, TX @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater 05/05 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall 05/07 – Denver, CO @ Paramount Theatre 05/08 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Hall at Eccles Theater

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JOE SATRIANI And STEVE VAI To Team Up For 'Satch/Vai' 2024 U.S. Tour

For the first time ever, after more than 50 years of friendship, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai will team up for a tour in 2024.

Believe it not, this is the first time Joe and Steve will tour as a duo bill, and it comes along with plans to release a new musical collaboration.

Says Satriani : "The Satch/Vai tour is happening! I'm so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again. Every time we play together it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we've never stopped!"

Adds Vai : "Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honor. He is my favorite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game and that the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!"

The Satch-Vai tour starts March 22 and runs through May 8, 2024. Pre-sale begins November 13 (password: SVx24) with the public on-sale November 17.

Tour dates:

March 22 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live-Orlando March 23 - Pompano Beach, FL - Pompano Beach Amphitheater March 25 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall March 26 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre March 27 - Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Symphony Hall March 29 - North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center March 30 - Durham, NC - Durham Performing Arts Center April 2 - Charlotte, NC - Belk Theater April 3 - Richmond, VA - Dominion Energy Center April 5 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre Boston April 6 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre April 7 - Waterbury, CT - Waterbury Palace Theater April 8 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Center for the Arts April 10 - Collingswood, NJ - Scottish Rite Auditorium April 11 - Washington, DC - Warner Theatre DC April 13 - Northfield, OH - MGM Northfield Park April 14 - Rochester, NY - Kodak Center Theater April 16 - Detroit, MI - Fisher Theatre April 18 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theatre April 19 - Cincinnati, OH - Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center April 20 - Fort Wayne, IN - Embassy Theatre April 21 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre April 23 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater April 24 - Minneapolis, MN - State Theatre April 25 - Des Moines, IA - Des Moines Civic Center April 28 - La Vista, NE - The Astro May 1 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater May 3 - Austin, TX - ACL Live at The Moody Theater May 5 - Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall May 7 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre May 8 - Salt Lake City, UT - Delta Hall at Eccles Theater

In a 2022 interview with LifeMinute , Vai reflected on studying under Satriani as a youth and how those lessons inspired him musically from an early stage. He said: "I can't even fathom what my life would be like without him. When I was 12, a friend of mine, John Sergio , who was a friend when we were in diapers, was also a great mentor, because he introduced me to all this music that I was unaware of — progressive rock from the '70s. He brought me to my first QUEEN concert. He brought me into his band; it was the first band I was in when I was 13. He's been a dear friend. [He had an] incredible musical taste. And he was playing the guitar when I was 12, and I couldn't believe it, 'cause he lived two houses away. And then he said, 'If you think I'm great, you should see my guitar teacher, Joe Satriani .' So he gave me Joe 's number, and I started taking lessons. And my lessons with Joe were all that mattered to me.

" Joe was always cool," Vai continued. "He was always solid, sharing and strict. And it was the best thing because he was great, and that's what you want in a teacher; you're inspired by seeing.

"To this day, the thing that I got most… There's so many things. And we're so fortunate that all through these years we've been joined at the hips," Steve added. "When I would watch him play, when I was 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, everything he touched on the instrument sounded like music. When it came out of his fingers, it just sounded good; it sounded like there was a soul in it. It wasn't just noodly nothingness, the kind of academic exercises and stuff like that. I mean, we did some of that; that's part of the training… So I always appreciated that. And still, he's so solid and he's so musical. His inner musical ear is inspired, that he's continued to be an inspiration my whole life."

Two and a half years ago, Vai told the "Striking A Chord" podcast that he took lessons from Satriani "religiously" on a weekly basis for about "three to four years."

"When I was in Joe 's room, learning, I never felt as though I was going to run out of mentorship," Vai recalled. "There was always this greatness about Joe that always seemed to surprise and delight. He was always teaching one new lesson after another, [and] just revealed a wealth of information and almost what seemed to me at a time infinite depth of musicality."

Vai went on to say that his lessons with Satriani helped him develop into the accomplished player he has since become.

"I didn't know anything," he said. "I mean, I was noodling around with a guitar in my bedroom before that, but I didn't know what I was doing. I was just playing by ear and I didn't know how to keep the strings tuned. In the beginning, it was basically like finger exercises and just things to kind of get my dexterity going, but it was very well-balanced. My lessons [with Joe ] evolved very organically. He was an incredible teacher."

Back in 2018, Satriani spoke to Albany, New York's Q103 radio station about what it was like giving lessons to Vai . He said: " Steve Vai was 12 years old and could not play guitar at all when I met him. He showed up on my front door with a guitar with no strings in one hand and a pack of strings in the other, and said, 'Hey, you're teaching my friend. Can you teach me how to play too?' So that was my introduction to Steve ."

Several other Satriani students went on to achieve fame of their own, including Kirk Hammett , Alex Skolnick , Andy Timmons , Larry LaLonde , Rick Hunolt , Charlie Hunter , Jeff Tyson and Kevin Cadogan .

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Steve Vai  

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Steve Vai is a guitarist and songwriter hailing from Carle Place, New York, U.S who was born on June 6th 1960. Since his debut in 1978 he has become one of the most succesful and famous virtuoso guitarists in the world, and has released eight studio albums since 1984.

Incredibly enough, Steve Vai only started playing guitar at the age of 13 years old. This is practically ancient compared to most virtuoso instrumentalists, as most of them are childhood prodigies who received lessons before they could walk. Not for Vai, he just picked up the guitar in 1973 and after some lessons from Joe Satriani himself, he was leading his own band, fittingly named The Steve Vais. After only five years of playing the instrument, he was accepted into the Berklee College of Music, but dropped out early as he had secured a job performing with Frank Zappa.

Vai had sent a transcription of a Zappa guitar solo to the man himself and Zappa was so impressed with the results that he employed the to transcribe a number of his guitar parts. This eventually lead to Vai joining Zappa’s band The Mothers of Invention, where Vai’s sheer skill was so overpowering that Zappa credited him in his album linear notes as playing “stunt guitar”. Vai first went on tour with Zappa in 1980, and stayed for two years before leaving for Los Angeles, California to focus on his solo career.

His debut solo album was released in 1984, and while it wasn’t a huge success it did secure him a spot in the heavy metal band Alcatrazz, filling in the lead guitarist spot that some no-hoper called Yngwie Malmsteen vacated. It was his time in the band that secured him the spot that would hurl him into the public spotlight, playing lead guitar in Diamond David Lee Roth’s new band. His first album with The David Lee Roth Band was released in 1986, sold over 2 million copies and set Vai up as the next Eddie Van Halen in the eyes of many, many people.

Ever since leaving the David Lee Roth band in 1989, Vai has worked as a journeyman guitarist and a solo artist in his own right. He’s enjoyed successful stints in bands like Whitesnake and Public Image LTD while also having hit solo records like 1993’s “Sex And Religion” and 1999’s “The Ultra Zone”. He remains an inspiration to multiple generations of guitarists the world over, and still comes highly recommended.

Live reviews

Steve Vai’s adept skills at playing carefully, crafted scales on the guitar at rapid speeds and using intricate techniques to perform his methods truly puts him in a league of his own in the world of guitar virtuosos. It is no joke that Steve Vai is a master at his instrument able to play various styles of music, having toured with the likes of Frank Zappa, Public Image Ltd., David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake. He has also been recognized by critics for his great works, having already won three Grammy awards. He has regularly toured with the G3 concert tour, which is a musical showcase designed by his contemporary, Joe Satriani, in which Joe Satriani and two other well renowned and talented guitarists perform their music individually as well as in a group.

During live performances Steve Vai is usually backed by musicians that are recognized as the best on their instruments. He often engages in guitar duels during his performances where various members of his band playfully take turns soloing on either the bass or the guitar to see who can perform the best. It is no doubt that Steve Vai wins every time. One of the most interesting parts of a Steve Vai show is all of the different types of guitars he plays throughout the performance. During some parts of the show he plays a triple-neck guitar, where he performs on multiple necks at the same time. Steve Vai often plays in a quirky, angular style and often incorporates bizarre rhythms into his music. Steve Vai also has a very captivating stage presence, wearing bizarre clothing such as black robes and having blasts of wind blow at him while on stage, which lets his hair look like it is blowing in the wind while shredding on his guitar.

Steve Vai remains at the top of his class for a reason. A chance to see him live should not be missed to let him prove his talents with his lightening fast guitar shredding, and high-energy performance.

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good day ! generation axe in toronto at maseyhall may 4 2016 is a mixed review for me.this 3 hour set is a little too too much of the same sounding guitar solos, but then again that is what you bought your ticket for right" maybe not.this rhythm section is far from good.playing one or 2 note bass lines being used most of the nite were simple jams going on for ever and ever with little or no melodic tone changes to match the lead solo changes..then to make things worse the bass lines were usually and quite simply out of tune with the rip roaring guitar solos making the entire jam sets sound disonent and are musically out of tune most of the night!also cover songs were almost unrecognizable due to guitars and bass/keys as well playing out of key each other and with the actual song progressions.none the less all steve vai sets were great and in key with the band. he was extremly happy on stage and totally makes up for this bands tour.vai had so much fun and it was a pleasure to watch him having such a blast on stage playing with so much confidence,is truly not to be missed this time around. 5 thumbs up for steve vai 4 thumbs up for the other guitar gods and 5 thumbs down for the tacky rhythm section.p,s, there was no stanley clark or edger winter etc. as stated on the tour web site at the toronto gig.

I have seen many excellent guitarists live, but whilst my favourite ones (Slash, Clapton) base their playing on blues licks, Steve Vai's sheer technical ability blew me away. I really haven't seen anything quite like it. On that front there is no one better, not even Joe Satriani or Eddie Van Halen. And it's still infused with emotion.

This is no longer a rock concert, but a magic show, a piece of performance art. The sounds he conjures out of his guitar are out of this world, in fact, sometimes not dissimilar to Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, whilst within the context of his songs, it still makes complete sense. You see his fingers move, but it's entirely unclear how he gets his guitar to do what it does. At the same time, the music is funky, heavy and beautiful at the same time.

Plus, it's great fun. There is a great rapport with his audience and he gets some of them on stage to 'compose' a song with him and his exceptional band on the spot.

His most famous album, Passion and Warfare, which he played in its entirety, is one of the most iconic instrumental guitar albums ever. If you like melodic guitar music and are interested in seeing a real musician at the top of his game, go and see him. You won't be disappointed.

Saw the Wednesday show in Ottawa. The venue was the theatre at Algonquin. Great venue for shows like this.

Overall show was 7.5 out of 10. Loved the simplicity of it all. Also enjoyed the latest guys & the use of the film screen. Although some parts were over scripted in the fake dialogue with Satriani for example.

The main reason why I didn't rate it higher though was the sound mix was off for the first half. The bass was way to high. It was crunching & taking away from the other guitarists with the bass dominance.

They fixed it for the second half and my head & ears were able to enjoy the show properly. Not sure why it took an entire first half to turn it down though.

Steve comes through as an approachable down to earth yet fully L.A style of person. Just doing what he loves in nice small venues like the 800 or so that the venue held that night.

Overall,I love these types of shows. Intimate & close to the artist. If the sound had been better from the start I would of rated it 8.5.

Must add that I loved that Zappa part big time.

Also must add that a couple people commented that it was the most women they had ever seen at a Vai concert. Lol.

Thanks Steve!

Sometimes when watching guitarist Steve Vai perform live you have moments of almost coming out of your body and looking at the situation whilst thinking 'how can a human really play an instrument that fast and that precise?!'. The reason you feel as though you are almost beside yourself is when you are actually within the venue, your whole attention is solely focused on the man and his guitar.

There is slight feelings of tension occasionally as when he plays to such speeds you imagine he is likely to make a mistake at any moment. However those who know the New Yorker's live show well will know there is more chance of the pope turning up to cover Dolly Parton than Steve actually missing a note all evening. Along with expert instrumental skill, the man also demonstrates the very finest selection of his long discography that currently stands at eight studio albums. 'Treasure Island' and new track 'Gravity Storm' are personal favourites whilst the whole room seems to be in universal agreement 'For the Love of God' from 'Passion & Warfare' is the best performance of the night.

Mycket bra spelning med 25 års jubileum av albumet: "Passion and Warfare"!

Alltid speciella spelningar i Stockholm, mycket beroende på Steves kopplingar till Sverige och särskilt Stockholm då hans fru Pia Vai har svenska föräldrar från just Stockholm...

Om man ska klanka på något tycker jag att ljudet var ganska grötit, tror det mest berodde på mixningen av bas och kompgitarren som tyvärr smetade ihop sig och drog ned Steves ljud, inte hela konserten men allt för ofta!

Dock en lyckad kväll totalt sett, längtar redan till nästa spelning i Svedala :-)

I've seen Steve Vai on 7 ocassions now and this gig was the best of the lot.

Passion and warfare is Steve's best album so hearing the full album live was special.

His banter and audience participation is also a nice break to an instrumental set and also the addition of the big screen with appearences from Joe Satriani and Co was certainly different.

All in all the gig was mind blowing with Steve and the band at there very best. 10/10, it was faultless.

Having seen Vai before I knew what to expect, I enjoyed this show above all others, the video jams were great, and the zappa song was heavy. Also the entire CD was performed (Passion & Warfare) incredible. Highly recomended.

Amazing opening. Superb end. Whatever happened in between was very Stevish. His interactions with crowd was fun. Promising crowd an amazing show is one thing, delivering more than that is another. He is one of the best.

Excellent show, even if having the audience participate in building a song failed pretty horribly :-)

Hearing Passion and Warfare performer was just perfect, and Mr. Vai himself is a master of showmanship.

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Steve Vai is not due to play near your location currently - but they are scheduled to play 33 concerts across 2 countries in 2024-2025. View all concerts.

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Joe Satriani & Steve Vai - Satch Vai US Tour

• Date May 4 , 2024
• Venue Music Hall at Fair Park
• Event Starts 7:30 PM
• Doors Open 6:30 pm
• On Sale On Sale Now
• May 4 | Saturday at 7:30PM 7:30 PM Buy Tickets

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Fresh on the heels of the exciting G3 Reunion of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Eric Johnson, comes “The Satch-Vai Tour.” This marks the first time that the long-time friends have toured as a duo-bill. In additional exciting news, for the first time they will collaborate on new music with plans to release just before the tour launches in March. Satch and Vai’s musical careers have been intertwined since their very early days. Satriani served as Vai’s guitar teacher during their teenage years on Long Island, New York. Their connection has continued to evolve over the years, even sharing record labels, starting at Relativity Records in the late 80’s, to both calling Sony/Epic Records home for a significant portion of the 90’s. Together, they have also frequently teamed up with a third guitarist on multiple occasions throughout the span of 29 years, participating in the semi-annual G3 Tours, both in the U.S. and abroad. “The Satch/Vai Tour is happening! I’m so looking forward to sharing the stage with Steve again,” exclaimed Satriani. “Every time we play together it takes me back to when we were teenagers, eating and breathing music every second of the day, pushing, challenging and helping each other to be the best we could be. I guess we’ve never stopped!” Sharing the excitement, Vai remarked, “Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honor. He is my favorite guitarist to jam with, and now we have another opportunity to take it to the stage. I feel as though we are both at the top of our game and that the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!” In April 2022, Satriani released “The Elephants of Mars,” his 19th studio album during his 35+year musical career. Last fall, he embarked on a worldwide tour that spanned the U.S. and culminated in France on June 4th. Satriani has also ventured into the world of art, creating original canvases and hand-painted guitars, which are currently available through the Wentworth Gallery. Satriani frequently makes special appearances at the showings where purchasers of his works are treated to a private performance within the gallery. Vai has been traveling the world since the release of Inviolate. When the current tour plays its’ final show in December, he will have staged appearances in 51 countries across the globe since the album first came out. Some for the very first time. Alongside Inviolate, in the recent past Vai released an archival album titled Vai/Gash he had been holding in his archive for three decades.

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Steve Vai warns touring is so expensive now “you are lucky to break even”

Vai says his 2022 Inviolate European tour was his “most challenging ever” and says even big bands are cancelling because they can't make the numbers work

Steve Vai has warned that the costs of touring have spiralled and that bands are lucky if they can break even, confessing that his 2022 European tour in support of Inviolate was the “most challenging” tour he has put together.

The Inviolate Tour Europe was Vai’s first in six years, and speaking to Meltdown on his Talkin’ Rock show on Detroit radio station 101WRIF – a conversation in which he confessed to owning around 200 electric guitars , with 15 per cent of his collection "lost in the wind" – Vai described a post-Covid touring landscape as “kinda deranged”, in which there were bus shortages, support shortages and rising expenses. 

Things are getting better, said Vai, but the bottom line is not what it used to be, and the financial challenges of putting a tour together are causing even larger acts to shorten their schedules.

“Trying to get out on tour after Covid was incredibly difficult for musicians, because everything was kinda deranged,” he said. “You couldn’t get a bus. Buses sat for tour years, and you can’t do that. All the bus drivers went to drive trucks, so we didn’t have bus drivers. You couldn’t get gear. You couldn’t get help. And it was real difficult. The European tour I did was the most challenging tour I ever done, but we got through it. Now things are getting oiled. Things are starting to come back together nicely.”

Vai was speaking in support of his new album, Vai/Gash , an album he recorded with the late Johnny ‘Gash’ Sombrotto on vocals, which was finally released last week after it had sat on the shelf for 25 years. Gash and Vai were close friends who bonded over biker culture and a shared love of Harley Davidson motorcycles. 

I have a lot of friends who are cancelling, big bands, because they just can’t get the numbers to balance

Around 1990, Vai wanted to write a straight-up rock album to soundtrack bike rides, and Sombrotto, who had no previous experience as a frontman, turned out to have the perfect voice for the material. 

“Something in me wanted to get him in the studio and see how he would belt over these biker type songs I had demoed, but nothing could have prepared me for the voice that came out of his mouth,” recalled Vai in a statement. “I had to think, off course he sounds like that because that’s him, confident, authentic, fearless but with a light-hearted intention. This was the voice I wanted to hear wailing over these slamming rock tracks. I was stunned.”

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Around that time, Vai was working on Sex And Religion and never had the time to finish it, intending to return to it later in the decade. After Gash died in a motorcycle accident in 1998, Vai sat on the material indefinitely.

“I just became so disheartened I threw the whole thing on the shelf for 25 more years,” he told Talkin’ Rock, revealing how one of the eight tracks they recorded was co-written with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe . 

As for touring, Vai is going to be spending the rest of 2023 on the road, returning to Europe in March before heading to Mexico and South America, then across Asia, India and through into Africa. “I am fortunate,” he said. “Tickets just went on sale and remarkably there are gigs selling out in one day, and that is a nice surprise.”

And maybe those advance sales are mission-critical, too, because the financial realities Vai talks about for touring musicians are squeezing them at both ends. Acts can afford slow sales when the margins are so slim.

“It’s remarkable,” Vai said. “Before you do a tour, you get all the gigs, the guarantees, you look at what your bottom line is, and it has changed, brother. First of all, unfortunately, the promoters and stuff are challenged in [being able to] pay what they used to pay, and it is just so much more expensive. The buses, and the fuel, and shipping gear to Europe? Oh my god! I couldn’t believe it. You are lucky if you break even. I have a lot of friends who are cancelling, big bands, because they just can’t get the numbers to balance.”

Fiscal challenges or not, Vai’s tour schedule is crammed for 2023, and yes, he is taking the Hydra on the road with him. Head over to the Steve Vai website for full dates. 

Vai/Gash is out now on CD via Favored Nations/Mascot Label Group, with a vinyl release to follow on 24 February. 

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.

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Steve Vai Talks Inviolate, Hand Surgery, 40 Years in Music and More | Interview

Published 6 months ago on October 26, 2023

By Jonathan Graham

Over the course of a more than 40-year career, Steve Vai has routinely transformed what would appear to be outrageously impossible into something very, very possible—and still also pretty outrageous. Nowhere is that more realized than on his latest full-length release, 'Inviolate' (out now, worldwide) . Billed as "the culmination of 61 years worth of inspiration and training," Gi editor Jonathan Graham chats with Steve about the incredible new record and much more in this exclusive Guitar Interactive cover feature.

From his days as Frank Zappa's "stunt guitar" player to his more recent expansive and exploratory solo work, Vai has continually challenged notions of traditional guitar playing and composition – and on more than one occasion, even reimagined the very instrument itself. Which, he'll admit, is not necessarily his intention.

The answer to that question comes in the form of Vai's newest and 10th solo album, 'Inviolate,' a nine-song opus that (sorry Steve) does indeed push the boundaries of instrumental guitar music – this time out, Vai quite literally invented not just a new guitar, but also a new guitar-playing technique.

At the same time, 'Inviolate' presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps invigorating music in years. "It's very 'Vai,' whatever that means," he says, and then laughs. "Someone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But it's just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they're long and there are a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people."

The desire to bring these songs to the stage was central to 'Inviolate's' conception. Early in the pandemic, Vai was deep into the recording of a very different record, one comprised primarily of solo acoustic songs with vocals. But as we've all learned over the past few years, sometimes the universe has different plans for us.

In Vai's case, he was sidelined with not one but two serious ailments – three torn tendons in his right shoulder that required surgery, and a bout of trigger finger in his left thumb that eventually froze the digit entirely, making it exceedingly difficult for him to play his instrument. By the time he got through the recovery process, the world was beginning to open back up, and he was staring down – rather excitedly – a slate of more than 200 tour dates. And so the acoustic album went on the backburner, and the decidedly more made-for-the-stage 'Inviolate' came to life. And to be sure, it's easy to imagine Vai and his band exploding onto stages in 2022 to the electrifying strains of the new album's barn-burning, melodic-shred tour-de-force, "Avalancha," to give just one example.

But while that song, with its alternately grinding and throttling rhythm attack (courtesy of drummer Jeremy Colson and bassist and longtime Vai musical compadre Billy Sheehan) and long, legato strings of exceedingly hooky, high-wire guitar lines, represents the artist at his most straightforward and accessible, much of 'Inviolate' finds him delving deep and wide – in some cases deeper and wider than ever before – to plumb the furthest reaches of his abilities and creativity.

The most fully realized example of this would be 'Inviolate's' mesmeric opener, "Teeth of the Hydra," a sinuous, Latin-fusion-tinged composition that Vai wrote and recorded with a one-of-a-kind custom guitar he coined the Hydra. But calling the Hydra a mere guitar is selling it way, way, way short. Built in conjunction with the designers at Hoshino and based on a "steampunk motif" idea of Vai's, the Hydra is a beast of an instrument – a one-bodied, two-headstock-ed, three-neck-ed creature that encompasses, among other things: seven- and 12-string guitars; a four-string bass; sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters; and much, much more.

"It's an incredibly-built machine," Vai says. "I told the guys at Hoshino, 'Anything that you think is conventional, don't do that.' This was an opportunity to exercise brutal creativity. And they went beyond."

As did Vai in his performance. Throughout the track he employs the Hydra's full range of tone and timbres to craft a guitar part that sounds, in its expansiveness and expressiveness, positively alive. "The interesting thing about the song and the guitar is that it all came at the same time," Vai says. "It was one of those 'inviolate' inspirations – boom!"

That said, he continues, "I knew that I needed to create something with the Hydra that sounded like a real piece of music. It couldn't be just a novelty. Because if you knew what my hands were doing, and how I'm using my left hand to create phrasings that work when I can't pick a note because my right hand is off somewhere else…my god. But the finished piece had to stand on its own. It couldn't sound like I was just trying to juggle stuff."

While "Teeth of the Hydra" pushes the limits of what two hands can do on one instrument, another 'Inviolate' track, "Knappsack," finds Vai taking a more streamlined approach. Vai composed and recorded the song following his shoulder surgery, at a time when his right arm was in a sling (or, as his surgeon, Dr. Knapp, called it, a "knappsack"), and thus was able to use only his left hand when playing the piece. Difficult? Sure. Although when he released a video of his one-handed performance earlier in 2021, he says with a laugh, "pretty soon after, I started to see some clips of young kids pulling it off, too. It's really fascinating."

Those kids will likely face a greater challenge attempting to take on another Inviolate track, "Candle Power." For this one, Vai not only set up parameters outside of his comfort zone (Strat-style guitar; clean tone; no whammy bar; no pick), but also – why not? – developed an entirely new guitar technique that he calls "joint shifting." The core concept there, he explains, is to enact simultaneous multiple string bends in opposite directions, which "requires bending only the top joint of the finger independently from any other finger." And while he acknowledges that bending multiple strings is not a new concept in and of itself, "I had not seen any of it done in the way I envisioned it," he says.

Like "Knappsack," Vai released "Candle Power," an accompanying performance video earlier in 2021. But he added a little something extra to the version that appears on Inviolate, with a newly recorded drum track from fellow Zappa alumnus Terry Bozzio (to that end, additional crack players who lent a hand to the record include bassists Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe and Henrik Linder, keyboardist David Rosenthal and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta).

Other spots where Vai steps outside the lines? Try "Little Pretty," a dark-toned fusion-funk workout played almost exclusively on a Gretsch hollow body guitar. As for what led Vai to the unusual (at least for him) model, he says, "It's on the wall with all the other guitars, and I'd always just look at it and go, 'One day I'm going to play you…'"

But perhaps the biggest stylistic departure for Vai is the album's seventh track, "Greenish Blues," which, true to its title, is an actual (gasp!) blues song. Or, at least, Vai's version of the blues. "I've never really been an authentic blues player," he acknowledges. Although, he adds, "I haven't really been an authentic anything. You would not turn to me to hear the blues or jazz or classical or fusion or even straight-ahead rock, you know? There's always weird stuff going on with me, and it's always very quirky."

That said, he also points out that, like most players, "one of the first things I learned on the guitar was the blues scale. I thought I had discovered the holy grail. Virtually everything I've played since then is derived from that scale. When I'm 'mode-ing' around the neck, I don't think of Lydian or Mixolydian or finger patterns. I think, 'blues with altered notes.' So, in that respect, I guess everything I do is my quirky version of the blues – 'greenish blues.'"

In essence, it all comes down to finding your own voice, and then having the courage and conviction to follow your musical and creative instincts wherever they may take you – something Vai has never been shy about in his playing.

"One of the great things about the guitar is you don't need to be a virtuoso to express your creative vision," he says. "I mean, Bob Dylan plays the guitar perfectly well for his expression. So does John McLaughlin. You just need to decide how much technique you want or need to get there. For myself, I came out of the chute wanting and needing it all. So when it comes to my music, I don't feel like I have to prove anything or conform to anything. I just love to think up creative ideas, and then use whatever skill I have to manifest them."

Which is what he has done, yet again, with Inviolate.

"An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure," Vai explains. "It appears almost in its completeness, and there's a recognition of it as being right for you – perfectly right for you. There are no excuses in it. There's no fantasy in it. There's just a recognition of 'yes.' And then you capture that in a way that's authentic to your unique creativity. Hopefully, that's what I've done with this record."

Steve Vai's  ' Inviolate' is out now digitally and on CD via Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group.

• Teeth of the Hydra
• Zeus in Chains
• Little Pretty
• Candlepower
• Apollo In Color
• Greenish Blues
• Sandman Cloud Mist

For more information, visit:

www.vai.com

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Steve Vai offers a tour of his live rig – and shares a glimpse of the complex signal processing needed for his absurd triple-neck Ibanez Hydra

In the new Thomann rig tour, Vai's tech gives us a closer look at some of his “career guitars”, including his “Evo”, “Flo” and “Flo III” Ibanez JEMs and the disco-ball finish 7-string Universe

Steve Vai’s gear collection is the envy of guitarists the world over. After over 40 years in the game, he’s amassed a fair amount equipment, and thanks to a new video posted to Thomann’s YouTube channel, we’re granted a look at what he’s currently using in his live rig.

Now, the virtuoso offered a guided tour of his favorite guitars to Guitarist back in March – in which he took us under the hood of his fabled triple-neck Ibanez Hydra – but here, Vai and his guitar techs take some time out of his 2022 Inviolate European tour to showcase his pedals and outboard effects, too.

First, though, one of Vai’s techs – Doug – takes us through his “career guitars” starting with his long-trusted Ibanez JEM7VWH, dubbed “Evo”.

“It’s set up pretty conventionally,” Doug says. “People will ask, ‘How does Steve set up his guitar action?’ I usually measure in units of 32nds of an inch. At the 12th fret, it’s usually around 3.2 – at the high E it’s usually around 3. He doesn’t like very low action; he likes to really be able to grab the note.”

Other guitars on the rack include Vai’s Ibanez John Scofield signature guitar – which he uses specifically for Little Pretty (from his latest album, Inviolate). There are more of his classic Ibanez JEMs – the “Flo” and “Flo III”, the latter of which has been Vai’s main guitar for the past decade – and “Bo”, and the green PIA “Envy”, two guitars equipped with blue and green fretboard LEDs, respectively.

A highlight from Vai’s lineup of live electric guitars is his Ibanez Universe, used during his tenure with Whitesnake, and seen in the music video for The Deeper the Love, from the band’s 1989 album, Slip of the Tongue.

Of course, there’s no denying that Vai’s gargantuan triple-neck Hydra model is the star of his gear collection, although he hasn’t been able to bring it on tour this time as he’s recovering from a recent shoulder surgery.

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“I asked my engineer to weigh it but we never got to weighing it,” Vai says. “Everybody asks me, ‘How much does it weigh?’ 1,000 lbs that’s what it feels like!”

But while the Hydra isn’t present for this rig walkthrough, Vai is on hand to detail some of the complex digital routing required to make it work. 

“The Hydra has an ethernet cable, and the output of the ethernet cable has all of the outputs for the different necks,” Vai explains, adding that the signal from the instrument is routed through a purpose-built rack unit, before heading into his Fractal Axe-Fx III amp modeler .

Elsewhere, Vai takes us through his current pedalboard setup, which includes a DigiTech Whammy, Ibanez Jemini distortion pedal , and even a foot-operated button for switching on his onstage fan.

“Without this switch I don’t know if I could do my show,” Vai says. “I tell people: ‘The reason why I have a fan is so it blows my hair back and makes me look cool,’ because that’s what they think. Well that’s partially true, but in reality, these little clubs get so hot… This keeps my fingers a little dryer, and keeps my hair honest.”

The European leg of Steve Vai's Inviolate tour continues tonight (July 4) at the Ultravox Arena in Florence, Italy. Watch the full rundown of his live rig above.

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Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar .

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Home » Guitarists » Steve Vai Guitars and Gear List (2024 Update)

Steve Vai Guitars and Gear List (2024 Update)

Steve Vai, innovator of “stunt guitar” and mercurial, enigmatic solo artist. His unique playing style is rooted firmly in precision and infinite expression, and over five decades remains at the forefront of potent shred guitar. Appropriately, his first job as a guitarist came with Frank Zappa, who often referred to Vai, then aged eighteen, as his “little Italian virtuoso”, responsible for “impossible” and “stunt” guitars on his albums. Although he rose to critical acclaim with some solo work in the early 1980s, and as Yngwie Malmsteen ’s replacement in Alcatrazz, it was with David Lee Roth that Steve Vai became a superstar.

Vai moved on from the David Lee Roth band in the late Eighties, working with Whitesnake and other artists, designing the iconic Ibanez JEM guitar, and continuing to record edge-of-your-seat shred guitar albums. Vai remains active to this day. He consistently produces music showcasing his unique, instantly recognizable guitar stylings. He even played on the theme for the multi-platinum video game phenomenon Halo.

What Guitars Does Steve Vai Use?

Steve Vai plays Ibanez JEM guitars which he designed and developed the model with Ibanez. He is known to have played a wide variety of Strat-style guitars throughout his career. Nevertheless, since the late 1980s, Vai has become synonymous with his Ibanez JEM EVO and FLO signature six-strings.

See the full list of Steve Vai guitars and gear below.

Although the JEM was not Steve Vai’s first guitar, it is by far the instrument most closely associated with the virtuoso. He designed the instrument closely with Ibanez as his fame increased, late in 1986, and emerged with the iconic JEM superstrat in ‘87.

Steve went to Ibanez with a “ Chinese menu approach ”, choosing the instrument’s specifications from a variety of categories to custom-build his ideal instrument. Playability and durability were at the forefront of Vai’s mind, having recently irreparably damaged one of his custom Tom Anderson “Green Monster”, detailed later in this article. Vai painstakingly evaluated tonewoods and weight, but knew in advance that he would be using the high-octane pickups of every shredder of the era, DiMarzio’s humbuckers.

Steve Vai’s favored Ibanez JEM, nicknamed “EVO”, came along in 1991. It remains his favorite guitar to this day. EVO features an alder body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard inlaid with Vai’s custom “vine” inlay. Although alder is a thoroughly standard wood for Strat-type guitars, Vai’s interpretation of the JEM’s body was radical for the time. Vai had used a Stratocaster previously, and liked the body, but said that “it always looked kinda pedestrian, lacking some sexiness.

So I put on more edges.” The sharper angles and longer bouts also increased the instrument’s playability, improving upper-fret access for all Vai’s high-note acrobatics. This was critical as the guitar featured a 24-fret neck, which was almost unheard of at the time. Of these frets, the last four are scalloped, Yngwie Malmsteen style, to allow Vai to “grab notes by the balls”. The cutaway on the original JEM was designed to perfectly fit Steve Vai’s enormous left hand, allowing unfettered access all the way up to the 24th fret.

Another unique feature of the Ibanez JEM was its approach to the whammy bar. Although Eddie Van Halen’s incendiary use of the Floyd Rose had made dive-bombs standard on Superstrat-style guitars, Vai wanted to run extreme pitch alteration the other way, too. Frustrated with his inability to bend notes upwards with the tremolo arm, Vai said he “took a hammer and a screwdriver, and I just banged down all the wood. Next thing I know, I have a floating tremolo system that was really floating. And they tell me this was the first one.”

The floating Floyd Rose became a standard feature of the JEM and all copycat shred machines, but the guitar’s innovations did not end there. Vai took to DiMarzio’s PAF-style pickups but wanted a quacking Strat-like sound as well. To allow for this, the original JEM came standard with HSH (Humbucker-Single Coil-Humbucker) pickup configuration. This used a DiMarzio PAF PRO (Humbucker) neck pickup in the neck position, a DiMarzio PAF PRO (Humbucker) bridge pickup in the bridge position, and a DiMarzio JEM (Single Coil) in the middle. Some of the original JEM run actually used dual humbuckers without a single coil pickup in the middle, and a five-way selector switch allowing Vai to split the humbucker.

Early production run JEM guitars, the JEM777 series, were serious shred machines. They had a maple neck, and came in MTV-friendly finishes like Loch Ness Green, Shocking Pink, and Desert Sun Yellow. Their body was basswood, not alder. The finishing touch for Vai’s design was something unique that no other brand would dream of copying. To do this, he added the iconic “monkey grip”, the hole in the guitar’s body that marks the JEM series to this day.

Steve insists that, had he not started playing the Ibanez JEM in the late Eighties, he would be a vastly different musician today. The JEM, he says, made him capable of capturing the idiosyncrasies of his otherworldly playing. The guitar was built to address shortfalls in the existing market that prevented Steve Vai from making the noise he heard in his head.

Various iterations of the JEM series have followed since 1987, including a switch to basswood in the 90s, updated DiMarzio pickups such as those found on EVO, the “Evolution” pickups, and DiMarzio “BREED” pickups in later models. Steve Vai even added his own blood to the paint mixture of the JEM2KDNA series, in a mildly concerning ratio of 8 parts paint to one part blood. Anniversary models and cheaper versions, with dot inlays rather than the vine inlay, followed, but Vai plays his own high-end custom jobs for records and live.

Steve’s number one JEM is still the 1991 “EVO” Jem, which he still tours with to this day. Modern EVO production models use a rosewood fingerboard instead of the ebony that graces Vai’s own instrument, but the fingerboard is still scalloped from frets 21 to 24.

The Ibanez Universe , a seven-string guitar developed by Steve Vai, is branded separately from the JEM series, but differs from the JEM in its lack of a monkey grip. For all other intents and purposes, however, the Universe is a seven-string take on Vai’s iconic Ibanez JEM. Ibanez introduced the Universe in 1990, and Vai occasionally uses it to record particularly heavy guitar parts on his solo albums.

1977 Fender “Sticker Strat” Stratocaster

Steve Vai’s “Sticker Strat” was his first-ever electric guitar. According to a post on Vai’s website , his mother gave him the money to buy this guitar when Vai was just sixteen. The story goes that Vai came home from school one day and found $175 woven between the strings of his beaten-up old acoustic guitar. He went straight to the local guitar store and bought this Stratocaster, which remained Vai’s number one electric throughout his tenure with Frank Zappa.

Vai and Zappa made modifications to this guitar themselves, including adding an Alembic preamp and changing its pickups. As can be seen in the picture above, the Stratocaster’s neck and middle pickup are single-coil pickups in cream and black, respectively. The bridge pickup is a high-output dual-rail humbucker, likely a DiMarzio. Vai, like many budding hard rock and metal players of the late 1970s, was partial to Larry DiMarzio’s custom-wound pickups and included them in many of his later guitar designs.

Finished in a transparent blonde finish, it’s this guitar featured an ash body with black pickguard. It had a three-way pickup selector, a thin “veneer” maple fretboard with clay dot inlays on its bolt-on maple neck, and Kluson tuners on the oversized CBS-era headstock. The Sticker Strat also features a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. Steve Vai used this guitar extensively throughout his tenure with Frank Zappa, but upon his recruitment, for hard rock band Alcatrazz found it “too bright”. The guitar was mostly retired from live use around this time, but it regularly appears on Vai’s albums to this day when he needs a bright, quacking classic Stratocaster tone.

Charvel “Green Meanie”

When Steve Vai joined Alcatrazz, his trusty Stratocaster proved inappropriate for the band’s high-powered shredfests. In search of more output from his guitar and a darker, more authoritative tone, Vai turned to Grover Jackson (of Jackson Guitars’ fame). This Charvel guitar was equipped with two humbuckers, one each in the neck and bridge positions, and a single-coil pickup in the middle position. Although it was initially given to Vai on loan, it proved to be one of his most reliable guitars, and Vai considers it even more valuable than EVO, his number one Ibanez JEM.

Vai said of this guitar, “If I had to point to one guitar that is more valuable than EVO, it would be the Green Meanie. It was my go-to guitar through all the Alcatrazz, Dave Roth, and PAW days.”

Grover Jackson purchased the Charvel brand from its founder, Wayne Charvel, in 1978. The California-based guitar builder quickly amassed a reputation as the go-to builder for the burgeoning shred scene. Although Steve Vai was, with Frank Zappa, an influential figure in the development of shred guitar, it was in the wake of Eddie Van Halen ’s playing on the early albums with David Lee Roth that the Superstrat became the default guitar of any self-respecting 80s shredder. Charvel had initially developed their reputation repairing out-of-warranty Stratocasters.

Charvel’s parts proved as good as, if not better than, Fender’s own, and they quickly branched out into building guitar bodies. The Stratocaster-shaped bodies and headstocks were adorned with humbuckers and, often, Floyd Rose tremolo systems to execute the wailing, squealing whammy bar acrobatics that were becoming popular at the time. This Charvel was different from many of its brethren in that it featured two humbuckers rather than just one.

This guitar was actually finished originally with a Fender-style three-tone sunburst, but Vai wanted something more distinctive. Wanting a guitar that looked as distinctive as his playing sounded, he opted for the neon green finish for which this guitar is famous. He also made another serious modification to Grover Jackson’s guitar. Steve chiseled away at its basswood body under its Floyd Rose bridge, creating a rudimentary floating tremolo, allowing for the wide-ranging whammy effects heard all over Vai’s 1980s playing. Its dual humbuckers were DiMarzio PAF Pros, hot-rodded versions of Gibson’s classic late-50s humbucker.

Steve Vai used this guitar extensively throughout his years in Alcatrazz and it was his main studio guitar during his time with David Lee Roth. In fact, it was the guitar he used on Disturbing The Peace and “virtually everything” on Roth’s seminal solo album Eat ‘Em and Smile. Today, this guitar is listed on Vai’s website as “on loan”.

Despagni Flame Guitar

Although some might say the Day-Glo green finish on Steve Vai’s Charvel Superstrat was eye-catching enough, he wanted something even bolder to play alongside Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth. After all, “Diamond” Dave was a legendary frontman with a larger-than-life onstage persona. How was a budding guitar hero to compete with the likes of Diamond Dave?

Steve Vai turned to his old friend Joe Despagni , a fellow Italian-American guitar enthusiast. Vai called Despagni his “very best friend”. The two grew up together, with Vai and Despagni often playing guitar together as teenagers, sharing licks and a love for Jimi Hendrix . Vai even credits Joe Despagni with inventing the term “shred” as applied to the guitar. Despagni described his guitars as “Jems”, which is why he named his signature line of guitars “JEM”.

Despagni’s passion was making “wild guitars” that were bold and bombastic. Steve knew there was no better luthier than his old buddy from Long Island to build him the MTV-friendly exotic guitars he needed to accompany David Lee Roth. Arguably the most famous result of their collaborations – which also included a guitar-shaped like Swiss cheese – was this immediately recognizable flame guitar.

The flame guitar made its first appearance in David Lee Roth’s video for “Goin’ Crazy”, and Vai used it on stage throughout his time with David Lee Roth.

The Despagni flame guitar featured a solitary open-coil humbucker in the bridge position and a bolt-on maple neck. Its maple fretboard was adorned with dot inlays and 24 frets. Its body material is unclear but it was likely alder or ash. It boasted a single volume control and a Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. Despagni also built Steve Vai a spare flame guitar, which Vai tuned to Drop D and used to play “Unchained” on tour with David Lee Roth. The second flame guitar was later fitted with an Ibanez JEM neck and given to Vai’s friend Thomas McRocklin. The original flame guitar was retired after his short-lived time with Whitesnake and was loaned to Rockwall in Hollywood.

Steve Vai eventually sold the guitar in 2017 to raise funds for Joe Despagni, who was battling the illness that took his life the following year.

You can see Steve Vai playing the legendary flame guitar in the below video or David Lee Roth’s hit single “Goin’ Crazy”.

Jackson “Crossroads” Guitar

One of Steve Vai’s most famous pop-culture appearances came in the 1986 film Crossroads , a coming-of-age drama inspired by the legend of Robert Johnson. Although Steve’s guitar playing is a far cry from the moody, grinding blues of Robert Johnson, he appears as the Devil’s own guitarist in the film’s final duel. Although the original script for Crossroads called for a slide-guitar battle in keeping with the film’s blues theme, director Walter Hill decided he wanted the film’s crescendo to feel like a boxing match. Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Steve Vai’s old buddy Frank Zappa were considered for the role, but ultimately Vai’s fashionable shredding won out.

Although Steve Vai appears as Ralph Macchio’s opponent in the duel, he actually played both guitar parts for the contest. In the film, Vai’s character, upon failing to replicate the intricate neo-classical phrasing of Macchio’s character, throws his guitar to the ground. For this scene, Steve Vai had Grover Jackson build him a copy of his red Jackson specifically for the ground-pounding. In fact, Grover built several!

Guitar World in 2001 performed some truly impressive investigative reporting in a bid to uncover the identity of this sparkling red Superstrat. They revealed that the guitar was fitted not with Steve’s favored DiMarzios, but with Jackson’s own high-output ceramic pickups. It featured a J-90C in the bridge and an Alnico J-80, with dark magnets and a glossy sheen perfectly suited to Vai’s role in the film.

Grover Jackson confirmed that the guitar’s body, like many actual Stratocasters, was swamp ash, with a quartersawn maple neck finished with gunstock oil. It used a woodscrew-top-mounted Floyd Rose tremolo system, albeit lacking the carved-out “lion’s claw” cavity beneath the bridge. Curiously, Steve Vai never used the original Crossroads guitar on a recording, not even to record the famous solo for the film. That honor went to his “Green Meanie”, one of Vai’s other Grover Jackson-built Superstrats.

Steve Vai has “ no recollection ” of who he gave any of his Crossroads guitars to, but speculated that he may have gifted the original instrument to Arlen Roth, Ralph Macchio, or Walter Hill. Regardless of who inherited the instrument from Vai, today it resides at the Hard Rock Cafe in Biloxi, Mississippi, in the same state where Robert Johnson was said to sell his soul to the Devil.

Timetable Showing Each Guitar Steve Vai Has Played Throughout His Career

Steve vai amplifier overview.

Steve Vai’s high-powered tone in the 80s came, like many of his peers, courtesy of 100-watt Marshall amplifiers. The searing, legato runs of his work with David Lee Roth and Alcatrazz were prime examples of high-gain 1980s lead guitar tone. Ever the tinkerer, Vai later collaborated with Carvin amplifiers to build a signature amp to his exacting specifications. Let’s take a look at Steve’s amplifiers and why he chooses to use them.

Marshall JMP 2203 Mk II Master Lead 100w

One of the defining sounds of Steve Vai’s career, and of 1980s shred guitar, is the molten lead tone from David Lee Roth’s 1986 album Eat ‘Em and Smile. Much of this guitar tone came courtesy of Vai’s technique, of course, but key to the tight, articulate sound of Vai’s playing in the late Eighties was his use of this customized Marshall Super Lead amplifier.

The Marshall Super Lead , for many rock and metal players, is not an amplifier, but the amplifier. The sound of a 100-watt Marshall Super Lead with the volume turned up defined classic hard rock and metal tone for decades. The 2203 model, as Vai played during his time with David Lee Roth, was introduced to the market in the mid-1970s. Models sold in the American market used 6550 tubes as opposed to the warmer, more organic-sounding EL34 tubes of Marshall’s British amps. However, Steve was as prone to altering his guitar amps as his guitars, and consequently customized this Marshall to suit his needs at the time.

This Marshall amp was a gift from Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens to Ted Templeman, who produced the early Van Halen records as well as Eat ‘Em and Smile. Steve Vai took the amp to Lee Jackson, who was then making a name for himself modifying Marshall amps for the biggest names in rock. The modified Marshall featured an extra gain stage, frequency adjust control, effects loop & master volume. It featured KT88 quad-matched power tubes and “hand-selected pre-amp tubes to Steve’s liking”. Vai himself has not specified what exactly these tubes are, but his hand-picked preamp tubes of choice for his signature amp are EL34s, so these may well have been his preference for the Marshall.

Carvin Legacy Steve Vai Signature Amp

According to this Rig Rundown from Premier Guitar, Steve Vai’s favored amp for recording these days is his signature model from Carvin. Vai’s relationship with Carvin amps actually dates back to his time with Frank Zappa. When Vai joined Zappa’s band, he began playing his first-ever amplifier stack, the Carvin XB-100.

Although like many of his shredding peers Steve Vai enjoyed the high-output offerings of Marshall amplifiers and their various clones, he came to dislike the “abrasive” tone of many conventional metal amps. In an attempt to derive more melody and note definition out of his amps, he worked with Carvin to develop an amplifier with “a friendly sound with a bit of edge to it”. He wanted a warm, fuzzy top end without the brittle, harsh tones often found in modern amps, and a compressed, loose bottom end sound. In pursuit of a clean, direct signal path without excessive gain staging to eat at the guitar sound, Steve Vai returned to the Carvin fold in 1999 to build an amp worthy of his towering musical ability. To date, Vai has collaborated with Carvin on three signature amplifiers, using each extensively both live and in the studio to this day.

The most recent iteration of the Carvin Legacy, the Legacy 3, is a lunchbox-sized amp that churns out 100 watts of all-tube power thanks to four EL34 preamp tubes. The amplifier also allows power switching down to fifty or fifteen watts. This amplifier boasts three channels, one for clean, one for overdrive, and one that provides a gain boost to the overdrive channel, effectively offering a distortion pedal-type circuit built into the amp. The clean channel’s independent controls include bass, mids, treble, volume, and presence, while the twin overdrive channels share EQ controls, but have independent volume, gain and presence knobs.

Steve Vai designed this amplifier to provide the effervescent cleans and high-harmonic saturated tone of his solo work. Steve Vai has used Carvin’s Legacy series for virtually all his studio and live work since 1999. Vai often stacks up to ten of these amplifiers in his amp rack on tour.

He uses the “crunch” channel primarily for rhythm playing, enjoying its “not too distorted” sound. For lead work, Vai uses the third channel, which he describes as having “a lot of hair on it”.

Steve Vai Pedals and Effects Overview

These days, Steve Vai prefers the compact convenience of Fractal’s Axe-FX unit both live and in the studio, but over the years he has taken advantage of a variety of guitar pedals. Vai often experimented with his pedalboard, using a variety of overdrives, distortions, and modulation effects, swapping them out mid-tour and from one project to the next. Like many celebrity guitarists, Steve Vai eventually worked on signature lines of guitar effects, including his “Bad Horsie” Wah and an Ibanez distortion pedal. Let’s take a look at Steve Vai’s choice of pedals over the decades.

Overdrive & Distortion

Steve Vai, during his time with Alcatrazz, was using the then-new Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive. This robust yellow box was a popular alternative to the Tube Screamers and MXR Distortion Plus pedals often found on metal guitarists’ pedalboards. He used the SD-1 up until 1985. Vai eventually moved on to the SD-1’s more advanced older brother, the OD-1X, using it as a boost in the front end of an already-distorted amplifier. Vai also took to a Waza Craft special edition of the SD-1 in later years.

Vai also used a Robert Keeley-modded Ibanez Tubescreamer , a TS9DX with four knobs and a protruding footswitch. For a harsher, more saturated sound, Steve Vai initially took a shine to Boss’ DS-1 distortion, once more turning to Robert Keeley to do his Seeing Eye mod to the pedal. Typically, Vai ran the DS-1 into his modded Tubescreamer.

For a while, Steve Vai used the Ibanez Jemini distortion pedal, a custom pedal he designed with the Japanese brand. The Jemini appears to be an attempt on Vai’s part to capture his dual-distortion-pedal approach in a single stompbox, which boasts two footswitches.

Phaser, Flanger, and Chorus

Steve Vai was no stranger to modulation effects, often using early phase, flange, and chorus to spice up his clean playing and add some movement and depth to solos.

With Alcatrazz, Vai used Mutron’s Bi-Phase rack unit but later took to MXR’s era-defining Phase 90. An interview with Thomas Nordegg , Vai’s guitar tech, revealed that Steve was for a time using the EVH signature flanger from MXR, placed last in his signal chain before the front of the amp.

Vai used Boss’ CH-1 Super Chorus as part of his effects loop to add color to his tone and eventually took to Red Witch’s Medusa Chorus and Tremolo pedal for the same effect. Vai mostly uses subtle chorus on his bubbling clean sound, but in the 1980s he used the chorus to thicken his distorted tone.

Cry Baby Wah

Although Steve Vai did use Dunlop’s industry-standard Cry Baby wah for a time and owns an original Cry Baby from the 1960s, he eventually collaborated with Morley to design a wah of his own. The “Bad Horsie” was released in 1996, featuring switchless operation, an electro-optical design without a physical wah potentiometer, and an aggressive sweep that Vai himself used on countless recordings since.

Fractal Axe-FX

Although Steve Vai tried – and hated – early effects processing units, describing them as “toys” that “sounded like crap”, he was eventually won over by Fractal’s high-end processing unit. Fractal’s effects processor is Steve Vai’s go-to live effects unit these days, although in the studio he still prefers the fine-tuning available with his wide arsenal of guitar pedals.

Vai described the process of finding his preferred tone with the Axe-FX as “almost like rocket science,” but the devoted tinkerer eventually coaxed his preferred tones from the processor.

Vai actually uses his Axe-FX in the demo video for his Legacy 3 signature amp, as can be seen in the below video.

Steve Vai was born to Italian parents in New York State and claims his first musical epiphany came not from the guitar, but from the piano in his parents’ living room. Upon noticing that the notes got higher as you moved to the right and lower as you moved to the left, he was “flooded with the instinctual realization of how music was created and how it worked from a theoretical standpoint”.

Not long afterward, he saw a kid at grade school playing guitar, describing it as “the coolest thing I had ever seen”, and took to the instrument like a duck to water. Helped no doubt by lessons from no less a guitarist than Joe Satriani , Vai jumped headfirst into playing guitar. Practicing up to nine hours a day, taking cues from his heroes Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, and Jimmy Page, and even turning his attention to the jazz-fusion stylings of Allan Holdsworth and Ali Di Meloa, he quickly attained a supernatural level of virtuosity.

When David Lee Roth parted ways with the brothers Van Halen after the smash hit album 1984, the question on many musicians’ minds was how Roth could possibly replace Edward Van Halen himself. After all, Van Halen had reinvented rock guitar with the band’s debut record and continued setting the world ablaze with each subsequent release. Who could hold a candle to the mighty two-handed tapping of Eddie? The answer, of course, was Steve Vai.

Vai stepped up as the lead guitarist in an all-star virtuoso ensemble fronted by David Lee Roth. Massive commercial success with Roth’s debut solo album Eat Em And Smile followed. Guitar World editor Brad Tolinski remarked at the time that “Steve Vai’s guitar wizardry is so profound that in earlier times he would have been burned as a witch”. Around this time, he featured in the guitar-centric film Crossroads as the guitar player for the Devil.

Furthermore, modern times have seen Mr. Vai as one of the most exemplary six-string slingers of all time cementing his prowess with only so many honors, earning a three Grammy Awards tally and twelve nominations on his own. There’s no room for doubt, that Steve Vai is one of the few standing guitar heroes these days.

My name is Chris and I’ve had a passion for music and guitars for as long as I can remember. I started this website with some of my friends who are musicians, music teachers, gear heads, and music enthusiasts so we could provide high-quality guitar and music-related content.

I’ve been playing guitar since I was 13 years old and am an avid collector. Amps, pedals, guitars, bass, drums, microphones, studio, and recording gear, I love it all.

I was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania. My background is in Electrical Engineering, earning a Bachelor’s degree from Youngstown State University. With my engineering experience, I’ve developed as a designer of guitar amplifiers and effects. A true passion of mine, I’ve designed, built, and repaired a wide range of guitar amps and electronics. Here at the Guitar Lobby, our aim is to share our passion for Music and gear with the rest of the music community.

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Tourdates Archive

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Count Basie Center for the Arts

Steve x Joe Satriani tour

Waterbury Palace Theater

Beacon theatre, orpheum theatre boston, dominion energy center, belk theater, durham performing arts center, north charleston performing arts center, atlanta symphony hall, florida theatre, ruth eckerd hall, pompano beach amphitheater, hard rock live-orlando, orpheum theatre, the magnolia, saroyan theatre, fox theater, grand sierra reno, historic elsinore theatre, the moore theatre, first interstate center for the arts, westgate las vegas resort & casino, talking stick resort ballroom, yaamava resort & casino, rialto theatre, omni championsgate resort.

Vai Academy 7.0

Grand Ballroom - JW Marriott

Inviolate Tour

Livebox Festival @ Phoenix Whitefield

Phoenix marketcity kurla, the quarry - al dana amphitheatre, ovation hall at ocean casino resort.

Chicago Tribute

Perth Concert Hall

Inviolate Tour 2023

Palais Theatre

Hindley st music hall, anita's theatre, enmore theatre, fortitude music hall, opera house, basket hall gbk, ho bee auditorium, national university of singapore, kitec - rotunda 2, nguyen du stadium, live warehouse, zepp new taipei, hefei grand theater, nanjing poly grand theater, great hall of the people, chengdu eumc, shanxi opera house, foshan shunde performance & arts center theater, guangzhou arena, tampere hall.

Steve Vai and the Tampere Filharmonia

Golden State Theater

INVIOLATE TOUR NORTH AMERICA 2023

Midtown Ballroom

Knitting factory, rickshaw theatre, the palace theatre, burton cummings theatre, danforth music hall, bronson centre, beanfield theatre, imperial theatre, rebecca cohn auditorium, the 1932 criterion theatre, fm kirby center, whitaker center, the robinson grand, civic center theater, minglewood hall, cma theater, joy theater, la hacienda, mesa theatre.

Inviolate South America

Metropolitan Theater

Diana theater, theater coliseo, teatro nacional casa de la cultura, centro de convenciones barranco, sala del museo, best of blues and rock festival, teatro san marco.

Alien Guitar Secrets

Pop Up Cinema Arlecchino

Auditorium gazzoli, gare de lyon, pop podium de boerderij, muziekgebouw eindhoven.

Bridge Festival - Steve Vai & Metropole Orkest

House of Culture

INVIOLATE TOUR EU 2023

Noblessner Foundry

Majowka festival - hala stulecia, lucerna music bar, mts dvorana, boris trajkovski hall, sala palatului (the great hall), fuzz live music club, principal club, congresium ankara, refinery gallery, culture factory, akvárium klub, teatro dal verme, audiotorio de la universidad laboral, auditorio mar de vigo, sala parallel 62, santana 27 - sala gold, gran teatro de huelva.

INVIOLATE TOUR EU

Teatro Cervantes

Casa da musica, the theatre at ace hotel.

INVIOLATE TOUR

Uptown Theatre Napa

Turlock community theatre, roseland theater, moore theatre, fargo theatre, hoyt sherman place, the district, the uptown theater, bourbon theatre, the fitzgerald theater, copernicus center, the pageant, old forester's paristown hall, metropolitan theatre, masonic cathedral theatre, packard music hall, palace theatre, kodak center, college street music hall, the paramount, count basie theatre, keswick theatre, the capitol theatre, musikfest cafe, the birchmere, the fillmore charlotte, charleston music hall, ponte vedra concert hall, the plaza live, bilheimer capitol theatre, variety playhouse, hargray capitol theatre, lyric theatre, house of blues, paramount theatre, the aztec theatre, tower theatre, boulder theater, the rockwell at the complex, celebrity theatre, fox performing arts center, parque olímpico - cidade do rock.

Rock in Rio, Living Colour ft Steve Vai

Hilton Lake Las Vegas Resort

Vai Academy

Teatro Tivoli

INVIOLATE TOUR Europe

Noches del Botanico

Auditorio mardo vigo, jardin de viveros, san javier jazz festival, concert music festival, open air amphitheater, columbia theatre, anfiteatro del vittoriale, ultravox arena, teatro petruzzelli, sferisterio, transbordeur, rocher de palmer, usf verftet, rockefeller, the limelight, isrohall sport hotel.

Red Sea Jazz Festival

NECC Hong Arena

GENERATION AXE 2019

Zepp Nagoya

Zepp fukuoka, yes 24 live hall, the fonda theatre.

Above Ground

Little Friends Benefit

Starmus Festival

Rio Montreux Jazz Festival

Wiltern Theatre

Generation Axe US 2018

Rockwell @ The Complex

The bomb factory, acl live at the moody theater, hard rock event center, hard rock live, the national, nycb theatre at westbury, hard rock hotel & casino, capitol theatre, sands event, centre in the square, the rapids theatre, chevalier theatre, the fillmore, 20 monroe live, taft theatre, hoyt sherman theatre, brady theatre, stiefel theater, uptown theatre, el rey theatre, marquee theatre, the joint at hard rock hotel & casino, city national grove of anaheim, uab’s alys stephens center – jemison concert hall.

Steve Vai with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra

Helsinki Festival

Steve Vai with Tapiola Sinfonietta Orchestra + Lauri Porra Flyover Ensemble

Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class

Alien Guitar Secrets 2018

Cinema Teatro Mangoni

Athena live, the mandolay hotel, de boerderij, larvik gitar festival, bacardi nh7 festival.

Bacardi NH7 Festival 2017

Novo Theatre

Loudwire Awards

Estadio Luna Park

South America Passion & Warfare 25th. Ann. Tour

Teatro El Circulo

Piazza de la musica, teatro cariola, opera de arame, auditorio araujo viana, imperator centro cultural joao nogueira, clube de congresse, maria angola, pabellon cuervo, centro de bellas artes lusi a. ferre, casa escobar.

Malibu Guitar Festival

Acoustic-4-A-Cure Benefit Concert

The Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa

Generation Axe - A Night Of Guitars

Moonstar Studio 8

Ecovention - eco park ancol, le sports center, guangzhou gymnasium, national taiwan university sports center, kitec star hall, blue square, walt disney hall.

Walt Disney Hall Performance

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts

Passion & Warfare 25th Ann. Tour

El Rey Theater

The complex, cain's ballroom, bomb factory, workplay theatre, cox capitol theatre, parker playhouse, palladium theatre, the carolina theatre, bijou theatre, marathon music works, neighborhood theatre, sunoco theater, the barns at wolf trap, state theatre, the space at westbury, merrill auditorium, corona theatre, the town hall, ridgefield playhouse, wilbur theatre, flying monkey performance center, hart theater at the egg, algonquin commons theatre, london music hall, riviera theater, the orbit room, the honeywell center, the pabst theater, the ames center at burnsville performing arts center, o'brian's event centre, jack singer concert hall, kelowna community theatre, the port theatre, revolution hall, ace of spades, the filmore, majestic ventura theatre, house of blues, teatro astra, teatro santa cecilia, sale cesare nava, theatro giordano, auditorium comunale, planet live club, blitz live music pub, teatro astoria, moscow annual arts festival, tbillsi open air, park budapest, cultural centre of belem, teatro trui, jardines de los viveros, jardines de la complutense, auditrio parque almansa, anfiteatro axerquia, guitare en scene festival, kunstrasen.

G3 International 2016

Circus Krone

Bospop festival.

Passion & Warfare 25th. Ann. Tour

Castello di Udine

Teatro del vittoriale, piazza del popolo, piazza matteotti, rock in roma, den atelier, kofmehl raumbar, conrad sohm, roland meinl musikinstrumente.

Ibanez Guitar Festival

Pusterviksbaren

Debaser medis ballroom, rockefeller music hall, the house of culture, brighton dome, o2 ritz manchester, o2 academy manchester, london palladium, o2 abc glasgow, world guitar festival, the iridium, count basi theatre, providence performing arts center, hampton beach casino ballroom, theatre at westbury, massey hall, royal oak music theatre, copernicus centre, ryman auditorium, murat theatre, warner theatre, cape fear community college, revention music centre, humphrey's concert by the sea, fox theatre, queen elizabeth theatre, the stiefel, monsters of rock cruise.

Benefit for Cliff II

Rock in Rio Brazil

Guitar town, candyall guetho square, cine theatro brasil vailourec, teatro universitário da ufes, auditório da igreja batista nova filadelfia, auditório do colégio la salle brasília, teatro positivo pegueno auditório, teatro ademir rosa [cic], escola de música e tecnologia, teatro boa vista, hard rock cafe.

Les Paul 100 Anniversary Event

Tranzac Club

Maison theatre, cosmopolitan music hall, engineered air theatre - epcor centre for the performing arts, teul world of science - kinetic hall, vancouver technical secondary school, teatro barts, sala es gremi, symphony hall, guitare en scene.

An Evening With Steve Vai 2014

Billboard Live

Boettcher concert hall.

Stravinsky to Vai 2014

Philharmonic Concert Hall

Steve Vai With Moscow City Symphony – Russian Philharmonic & Roman Miroshnichenko Trio

Varsity Theatre

Steve Vai North America 2013

Stazione Birra

Ibanez Alien Guitar Secrets Master Class

Music Academy International

Tivoli vredenburg, majestic music club, nosturi hall, boschello music store, thanks jimi festival, aurora hall, sentrum club, world trade center, omts khimik, dk sibernergonmash, tawerna korsarz, skyliveclub, culture palace, the star theatre.

Steve Vai Story of Light South America Tour

Teatro Villa Lobos

Chevrolet hall, citibank hall, circo voador, royal center, anfiteatro sambil, diana theatre, backstage live, soul kitchen, workplay theatre, casino roma, the intersection, egyptian room, newport music hall, the castle theater, hoyt sherman, horseshoe whiskey road, gillioz theatre, the blue note, harrah's voodoo lounge, click's live, rialto theater, wild horse pass casino, ventura theatre, the catalyst.

Steve Vai Story of Light Europe 2013 Tour

Uppsala International Guital Festival

Teatro geox, lucerna theatre, auditorio de burjassot, auditorio baluarte, le rocher de palmer, sala custom, plaza de toros, open air venue, la laiterie, la cooperative de mai, theatre sebastopol, o2 academy bournemouth, o2 academy bristol, st. david's hall, o2 academy leeds, mandela hall, central world live.

The Story of Light Tour 2013

ATT Show Box

Club quattro, ansan valley rock festival, shanghai yun feng theater, tennis indoor stadium, asb theatre, wellington town hall, qpac concert hall, canberra theatre, her majesty's theatre, concert hall, arenele romane.

The Evolution Orchestra Europe Tour

Tribute Club

Lizard di messina, keller platz, accademia del suono, hotel auditorium, pale de andre, rossetti politeama, hala stulecia, green theater, dk lensovetov, crocus city hall, che guevara club, tgu concert hall, tyz theater, the oosterpoort.

North Netherlands Orchestra

Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Cmp

public appearances

Auditorio Victo Villegas

Steve Vai Europe Fall 2012

Sala Capitol

O2 apollo manchester, ipswich regent theatre, newcastle city hall, wolverhampton civic hall, hammersmith apollo, portsmouth guildhall, essigfabrik, filharmonue filderstadt, royal circus, museumquartier, cvetlicarna mediapark, gran teatro geox, principle club, jolly joker, kucukciftlik park, sala palatului, national palace of culture, ukio banko teatro arena, canyon club.

Steve Vai North America Fall 2012

Regency Ballroom

Commodore ballroom, the ogden theatre, pabst theater, mill city nights, water street music hall, university of buffalo center for the arts, royal oak music hall, sony centre, capitole du quebec, lebanon opera house, capitol center, calvin theatre, best buy theater, mayo performing arts centre, the grand opera, the ridgefield playhouse, chameleon club, sherman theatre, the howard theatre, carolina theatre, centerstage, orange peel, marathon musicworks, palladium theater, ukraina hall, budapest sportarena, tesla arena, giorni suonati, offenbach stadthalle, heineken musical hall, convention centre, festival theatre, hordern pavilion, newcastle panthers, royal theatre, logan campbell centre, michael fowler centre.

Steve Vai and the NNO

De Oosterpoort

The dickinson centre (scotch college).

STEVE VAI ALIEN GUITAR SECRETS MASTERCLASS ASUSTRALIA 2011

Norwood Concert Hall

The besen centre theatre, wesley mission centre, conservatorium theatre, the perfect 5th musical arts center @ whitaker center for science and arts.

Guitar Masterclass

The Egyptian Theatre

WTWTA Premiere

Golden Stag Festival

Cerbul De Aur Festival

Quest University Canada

Avila beach blues festival.

Experience Hendrix

Santa Cruz Blues Festival

Grand theatre, wells fargo performing arts centre, ava amphitheatre, mesa arts center, doheny blues festival, las vegas hilton, de oosterpoort steve vai festival steve vai & nno new compositions for orchestra and guitar 20:15 pm.

Steve Vai Festival Holland

Pala105 Stadium

Steve Vai and the Temo Evolution Orchestra

Sala Polivalentă

Experience Hendrix Tour 2010

Star Plaza Theatre

(2nd show added) the center for the arts, ceasars casino, landmark theatre, hershey theatre, mgm grand @ foxwoods, community theatre, center for the arts (sold out), national arts centre (southam hall) (sold out), place des arts, sony center, benedum theatre, de oosterpoort steve vai festival steve vai & nno steve vai radio broadcast admission is free 13:00 pm.

Steve Vai Festival Holland - afternoon radio show

De Oosterpoort Steve Vai Festival Steve Vai & NNO 20:15 pm

De oosterpoort steve vai festival open rehearsal admission is free doors open at 11:50 am, de oosterpoort steve vai festival naked tracks competition admission if free 20:00 pm, meinl guitar festival, auditorio del aie, olga cadaval, excel london, auditiroum museo, the groove factory, teatro annibale, go west saloon, teatro cecchini, carvin showcase, a secret location, centr kulturi.

Autograph Session

Dvoretz Molodeji

Dk gorbunova, art-club planetary, zhivaja muzica, gosudarstvenniy, club jagger, yokohama blitz.

Zappa Plays Zappa

Thebarton Theatre

Steve Vai South America Tour

Court Central

Sausalito stadium, bourbon street, freegellsmusic, north fork theatre at westbury.

STEVE VAI FALL 2007

Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

Berklee performance center, webster theatre, the egg center for the performing arts, birchmere bandstand, borgata music box theatre, starland ballroom, keswick theater, hammerstein ballroom, university at buffalo center for arts, pabst theatre, state theater, commodore ballroom, moore theater, the wiltern, viejas dreamcatcher showroom.

European Tour 2007

The Academy

Vicar street, royal centre, carling academy, pistoia festival, arena alpe adria, via circonvallazione, casa da musica, frotaleza del sol, auditorio municipal, razzamatazz, arrow rock festival, le grand rex, den attielier, key club @ morongo, paramount theater, orpheum theater, verizon wireless theater, nokia theater, louisville palace, mizner amphitheater, challenge stadium.

G3 2006 Australia

Entertainment Centre

Regent theatre, theater at madison square garden, chevrolet theatre, prov. performing arts ctr, university of buffalo, canron palace theatre, ameristar casino, house of blues, sunset strip.

The Cliff Show!

Fuji Speedway (Square Stage)

Russian Masterclass Tour

Osaka Izumi Otsu Phoenix (Fronteer Stage)

The warfield, the wiltern lg, dodge theatre, auditorium theatre, hummingbird center for the performing arts, meadow brook music festival, laugardalsholl, softball, hellinicon olympic complex, royal albert hall, manchester apollo, forest national, centrale del tennis, mazda palace, petofi csarnok open air, sazka arena, philipshalle, stockholm hovet, sentrum scene, copenhagen falkoner, amsterdam music hall, muztorg store, tsentr kulruty i iskustv ntuu kpi.

Real Illusions Europe 2005

Sporting Hall

Saklikent gosteri merkezi, yeni melek gosteri merkezi, tvomica kulture, rohstofflager, industrial copera, coop de mai, le bataclan, carling apollo manchester, nottingham royal centre, glasgow royal concert hall, carling apollo hammersmith, kipsalas halle, rockerfeller, kulturbolaget, georg elser halle, vpk media park, petõfi csarnok, planet music.

The Aching Hunger Phase 2

Palace Grounds

G3 2005 JAPAN: JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI, JOHN PETRUCCI

Salt Lake City Grounds

Bandra-kulla complex, yubin chokin hall, geijyutsu gekijyo, tokyo international forum.

Real Illusions Tour

Roseland Theatre

The big easy, in the venue, royal grove, fitzgerald theatre, the eagles club, rex theatre, univ. buffalo center for arts, avalon ballroom, the trocadero theatre, rams head live, the orange peel, freebird live, julius littman pac, tampa theatre, boutwell auditorium, the cannery, new daisy theatre, la zona rosa, granada theatre, verizon wireless theatre, sunshine theatre, estadio chile.

G3 2004 SOUTH AMERICA TOUR 2004

Credicard Hall

Auditorio nacional, busan international rock festival.

STEVE VAI - ASIA TOUR 2004

Theater of Beijing Exhibition Center

Hong kong international trade & exhibition centre, taipei international convention center, suntec city conventrion hall.

Steve Vai - Australian Tour 2004

The Enmore Theatre

Komic sound, les nuits de la guitare.

G3 2004 EUROPEAN TOUR 2004

Pistoia Blues Festival

Petofi csarnock, bank austria halle, tivoli hall, villa pisani, centrale de tenis, polideportivo municpal, palais de congres, royal concert hall, bic windsor hall, nia academy, clyde auditorium, konsterthuset, liseberghallen, k.b. hallen.

Crossroads Guitar Festival

Steve Vai - The Aching Hunger

G3 2003 NORTH AMERICA

Beacon Theater

A.j. polumbo theate, bell center, warner theater, saenger theater, dreyfoos hall, millennium center, the palace at auburn hulls, riverside theater, fillmore auditorium, greek theater, chronicle pavilion, portland art museum, reno hilton theater, humphrey’s concerts by the bay, dodge theater, suntory hall.

Fire Strings

Auditorio Coca-Cola Parque

G3 2002 Mexico

STEVE VAI ALIVE IN AN ULTRA WORLD HONG KONG & EUROPE 2001

Live Music Hall

Theater fabrik, astoria theatre, machester apollo, ancienne belgique, heineken music hall, elysee montmartre, q.e. stadium.

G3 2001 Mexico

G3 2001 USA

Sunrise Musical Theater

Fleetboston pavilion, d t e energy music theater, austin music hall, aerial theater at bayou place, bass performance hall, paolo soleri amphitheater, konocti harbor resort showroom, wiltern theater, sun theater, celebrity theater, reno hilton pavilion.

STEVE VAI - “ULTRA ZONE” TOUR

Music Box Club

Sala pulatului, hala tivoli, planet club, kongresowa halle, grosse freiheit, palacisalfa, theatre barbey, barrowlands, vereeniging, pumperhuset, powerstation, diamond hall, akasaka blitz, sun theatre, cajun house, the odyssey, caravan of dreams, the boathouse, the trocadero, irving plaza, le spectrum, st. andrews hall, madison theatre, the barrymore, the north shore, the firehouse, the beaumont, the royal grove, boar's head, ogden theatre, stadio comunale.

Zappa 1982 European Tour

Stadio San Paolo

Ex mattatoio di testaccio, parco redecesio, stadio marassi, quartiere fiersticio, patinoire des vernets, olympiahalle, le parc des expositions, hammersmith odeon, centre sportif, feste marienberg, congress centrum, rhein neckar stadion, vechtewiese, palais des sports, la salle d'omnisports, ostseehalle, nouvel hippodrome, vorst nationaal, deutschlandhalle, brondbyhallen, scandinavium, drammenshallen, johanneshovs isstadion, vejlby-risskov hallen.

Zappa USA Tour

Civic Auditorium

Community theater, events center, university of colorado, municipal auditorium, kiel opera house, northrop auditorium, park west club, indiana university auditorium, assembly hall, univeristy of illinois, riverfront coliseum, public hall, painter's mull star theatre, manley field house, syracuse university, shea's theatre, maple leaf gardens, case center, boston university, civic center, ocean state performing arts center, tower theater, veterans memorial auditorium, o'connell center, university of florida, bayfront center arena, saenger performing arts center, erwin center, university of texas, johnson gymnasium, unm, mesa amphitheater, main auditorium, alladin theater, center arena, memorial auditorium, events center, ucbs, privacy overview.