Steve Vai Postponed Tour Due to ‘Stupid’ Pizza-Making Injury
Steve Vai has revealed further details on the shoulder injury that forced him to postpone his 2022 tour.
During an appearance on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk, the guitarist went through the medical issues he’s dealt with in recent years. In December 2020, Vai underwent shoulder surgery to repair a tendon in his right arm, a procedure which required a period of recovery.
“The surgery healed quick and I was able to record the record,” the rocker explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), referring to his recently released LP Inviolate. However, Vai further noted that a separate “really stupid” injury forced him to push back his 2022 touring plans.
“I have a pizza oven, and I was putting a pizza in the oven and the dough sticks on a little plate, and I had to jerk it really hard to pull it and I tore another [tendon],” the guitarist admitted.
At first, Vai hoped he’d be able to simply play through the new injury, which "was the same shoulder but a different tendon" to the one he'd previously hurt. “I thought I could get through the tour, but the tour is a megatour that we're planning, 'cause I've been just dying to get on tour. And we've got, like, 250 shows that we wanna do around the world, and it's gonna take, like, a year and a half. And once I started to prepare, it became really obvious that there was just no way,” the guitarist revealed. "And the doctor said that 'It's only gonna worse and there's nothing you can do. I highly recommend you get it fixed before you go out on tour for a year and a half or you're gonna be in real trouble.'”
Vai’s North American tour, which had been scheduled to begin in January, will now kick off in September. “So it gives me an opportunity to heal and get out there and kick some butt," he noted.
As for the pizza injury? "I wish I had a better story."
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