Credit: Joseph Cultice

Credit: Joseph CulticeGuitar virtuoso Joe Satriani‘s new studio album, Shapeshifting, will be released on April 10, but unfortunately, the first leg of his European tour in support of the record has been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Satriani tells ABC Audio that having to pull the plug on the start of his trek has left him with an “uncomfortable feeling.”

“I’d been practicing four to six hours a day,” he points out. “I bought all the supplies. Everyone was just about to jump on a plane to fly up here to San Francisco to rehearse. And all of us have had to suddenly pull up the parking brake…really hard. And it feels really funny inside that, suddenly, all that energy that I built up has got nowhere to go.”

The trek was to have kicked off April 15 in Mainz, Germany, but it’s now scheduled to get underway May 5 in Warsaw, Poland, while 20 shows have been moved to 2021. Of course, with the health crisis still not under control, more concerts may get postponed.

While the pandemic is affecting Satriani’s promotional plans for Shapeshifting, he says he feels fortunate that he finished the album before the health crisis put everything on lockdown.

“[T]his album was mastered right around January 1st,” Joe explains. “And it was delivered to the record company, so it’s available to be distributed electronically…throughout the world. I’m lucky that…the making of it didn’t get interrupted, [and] no one got sick.”

Meanwhile, Satriani says having to shelter at home will give him time to work on an exhibit of his art he’s preparing for 2021.

“I’ve got to photograph, sign, name over a hundred pieces of artwork…that I’ve done over the last year,” he says. “I was kind of putting that off.”

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