Joe Satriani and Steve Vai and formed a band together and you'll never guess what it's called

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai onstage
(Image credit: Jon Luini)

Guitar heroes Steve Vai and Joe Satriani have formed a new band together, and will tour Europe next summer. The cleverly-named SatchVai Band (see what they did there?) will play a long run of shows, kicking off in June with five shows in the UK. The first will be at the Barbican in York on June 13.

“The SatchVai Band Tour is happening!" says Satch. "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!”

“Touring with Joe is always a pleasure and an honour," adds Vai. "He is my favourite 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 the show will be a powerful celebration of the coolest instrument in the world, the electric guitar!"

Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday December 13. while a 48-hour presale is already underway (hint: use the code 'surfingwiththehydra' for pre-sale access).

The two guitarists, who released their first single together, The Sea Of Emotion, Pt 1, earlier this year, have also released a video in which they explain what the hell is going on.

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The SatchVai Band: Surfing With The Hydra 2025 Tour

Jun 13: York Barbican, UK
Jun 14: London Eventim Apollo, UK
Jun 17: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, UK
Jun 18: Wolverhampton Civic Hall, UK
Jun 19: Manchester O2 Apollo, UK
Jun 21: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jun 22: Paris Palais Germanys Congres, France
Jun 23: Antwerp Lotto Arena, Belgium
Jun 24: Amsterdam Afas, Netherlands
Jun 26: Copenhagen Amager Bio, Denmark
Jun 29: Helsinki House of Culture, Finland
Jun 30: Tampere Hall, Finland
Jul 02: Uppsala Parksnackan, Sweden
Jul 03: Oslo Sentrum Scene, Norway
Jul 05: Warsaw Torwar, Poland
Jul 08: Munich Tollwood Festival, Germany
Jul 10: Dusseldorf Mitsubishi Electric Hall, Germany
Jul 11: Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle, Germany
Jul 12: Zurich Volkshaus Zürich, Switzerland
Jul 13: Milan, Comfort Festival @ Villa Casati Stampa, Italy
Jul 15: Pordenone Parco San Valentino, Italy
Jul 16: Perugia Umbria Jazz, Italy
Jul 17: Bologna Sequoie Music Park, Italy
Jul 18: Saint-Julien Guitares en Scene Festival, France

SatchVai bBand tour poster

(Image credit: The SatchVai band/JonLuini)
Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.