In the clip below, legendary guitarist STEVE VAI's longtime guitar tech, Thomas "TimeSpeed" Nordegg, gives fans a look at Vai's touring guitars backstage on The Story of Light tour.

Vai's highly anticipated original orchestral and rock composition performances with The North Netherlands Orchestra (NNO) on May 24th and 25th at The Oosterpoort in Groningen are fast approaching. This special event (coined The Time Shift Festival) is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Stravinsky's seminal piece 'The Rite of Spring' and a handful of composers were specially chosen by the creative directors of the NNO to compose a unique new piece for this festival.

The first half of the program features Wagner: from Tristan - Isolde Liebestod, and LI-Yu Kang; a new piece for electronics, recorder and orchestra.

The second half of the concert will consist of Steve's music. First up will be 'The Middle Of Everywhere Part 1' - a dense orchestra piece that contains no rhythmic counterpoint. Steve will then take to the stage for a performance with the orchestra of his newly written piece 'The Still Small Voice'. After that will be a fully orchestrated performance of the entire 'Fire Garden Suite'.

A must see and hear. Visit Vai's official website here for full information and ticket links.

As presviously reported, after the festival Vai will tour for 2 1/2 weeks with the EVOLUTION TEMP ORCHESTRA and rock ensemble on a String Theories Tour throughout Russia, Ukraine, Italy and Spain, with very special Alien Guitar Secret Masterclasses interspersed.