Master Guitar Virtuoso, Steve Vai, bought his Alien Guitar Secrets master class to the 2009 London International Music Show at ExCeL exhibition centre.

This was Vai’s only UK appearance this year and culminated in a special performance guesting with the Phil Hilborne band featuring Nicko McBrain on drums.

The series of two sold out master classes was a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity for the select few people to hear Steve discuss guitar techniques, the music business and a few attendees were able to jam with Steve in this intimate environment.

The day also saw a host of stars play the show’s main stage including Grammy award winning country picking guitarist, Albert Lee, the critically acclaimed band, Swans in Flight featuring bass players Marco Mendoza and TM Stevens and killer guitarist Jan Akkermann.

Throughout the day there were a host of signings from special guests including Black Stone Cherry, Doug Wimbish and Steve Diggle from the Buzzcocks.

Watch MusicRadar’s interview with Steve Vai at LIMS 09 here.

What did we tell you! It’s the weekend, and the rockstars have arrived. While Roland’s Juno-Di synth and Peavey’s Revalver III update continue to fly the flag in the new gear corner, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan and The Commitments

Oh, and please do pull up a chair (or a stool) and join us in our favourite new hobby: finger drumming. Now, where did we leave that NanoPad…

Day three highlights

VIDEO: Roland Juno-Di
We liked this performance-friendly synth so much we swung by Roland’s stand, video camera in hand, to learn more…

VIDEO: Steve Vai interviewed!
Steve granted us a private audience to talk Alien Guitar Secrets, Naked Tracks and his upcoming live DVD, Where The Wild Things Are

VIDEO: David ‘Fingers’ Haynes rocks a Korg NanoPad
A finger drumming legend shows LIMS how it’s done. Triggering Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 2.0 along the way

VIDEO: Guthrie Govan live
If you want to watch a ludicrously-talented guitarist showing off in front of dozens of awe-gurning fans, this is the video for you

VIDEO: The Commitments live at Peavey’s LIMS party
We snuck in to catch this legendary band performing Mustang Sally… long live aftershows!

VIDEO: Peavey ReValver Mk III + RTAS support
Peavey’s Tom Allen gives us a whistlestop tour of ReVavler Mk III… this time in Pro Tools!

From the basement…

Walls of sound

Travelling to LIMS 09… Robot guitar style!

If Peavey made stools… oh, hang on

‘Behind’ the scenes

Not-so-unsuspecting, because seats at the workshop are scarce and sold quickly – although this is hardly surprising: lucky ticket holders will be privy to Steve’s expert teachings gleaned from 30-odd years as one of the world’s leading guitarists. Steve will cover everything from the music business to finding your own musical identity, and some fans will even get the chance to jam with the triple-Grammy-winner.

But that’s today. So what was Steve Vai doing yesterday? Well, chatting to MusicRadar, of course. Video camera-in-hand, we were ushered into a private room to film an exclusive interview – on Alien Guitar Secrets; on Naked Tracks; on his upcoming live DVD, Where The Wild Things Are; and on, erm… beef yoghurt (Steve brought it up, not us).

We were also treated to a sneak preview of the new DVD – although, despite our best hidden camera efforts, MusicRadar was unable to film any of it. But it was impressive stuff none the less: expect crazy visuals, dazzling arrangements, virtuoso violinists, a strap-on drum-kit complete with smoke-breathing skull (really) and, naturally, plenty of brilliant guitar playing.

Here’s our interview.