Vai's guitar stolen at McAlpine cancer benefit gig

A guitar owned by Steve Vai was stolen from outside a venue where the guitar hero was performing at a benefit show for Tony McAlpine.

The custom mirror JEM – which Vai nicknamed ‘Bo’ – was taken from outside the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles on December 12 (Saturday) where he and a host of other musicians including Tom Morello, Zakk Wylde, Billy Sheehan, John 5, Mike Portnoy and Nuno Bettencourt were performing.

The show was set up to raise funds for guitarist McAlpine, who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer and had to postpone a string of tour dates while he undergoes treatment.

Vai’s guitar carries the serial number F0006311 and has a host of unique features, such as blue LED fret dots and a red laser in the headstock.

Ahead of the benefit show, Vai said: “It’s a great privilege to take to the stage with my friends Zakk, John, Mike and Billy in support of our dear friend Tony.

“Tony has always been blessed with an exceptional talent and more so, he’s an exceptionally cool guy. It’s a great cause and will be a magical evening of guitar extravaganza.”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.