Blues Icon's All-Star Celebration
Blues Legend Buddy Guy Celebrates 90th Birthday with All-Star Tribute Concert in New York
Key Points
Executive producers for Buddy’s Got the Blues: A 90th Birthday Concert Celebration are Keith Wortman, Garry Buck, and Scooter Weintraub.
Buddy Guy turns 90 on July 30, and the Oct. 1, 2026 event serves as the fall celebration of his milestone.
The 2025 album Ain’t Done With the Blues features guests including The Blind Boys of Alabama, Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and Joe Bonamassa.
Buddy Guy’s impact includes helping define Chicago’s West Side blues sound, and he is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a nine-time Grammy Award winner.
Blues legend Buddy Guy will turn 90 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on October 1, 2026, with one of the most star-studded concerts in blues history. The show, called "Buddy's Got the Blues: A 90th Birthday Concert Celebration," will feature more than 23 performers, including Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Billy F Gibbons, and Jon Batiste, according to Relix.
Presented by Blackbird Presents and Live Nation, the one-night event honors a man who helped define Chicago's West Side blues sound and has won nine Grammy Awards. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 26, at 10 a.m. ET.
A Once-in-a-Generation Lineup Takes the Stage
The roster reads like a hall-of-fame roll call. Eric Clapton — who once called Guy "the best guitar player alive" — will perform alongside John Mayer, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Jon Batiste, Jambands reported. ZZ Top's Billy F Gibbons, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, and Gary Clark Jr. round out the classic blues-rock generation.
Younger stars also have a seat at the table. Samantha Fish, Ally Venable, Eric Gales, Isaiah Sharkey, and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram represent the next wave of blues talent — artists Guy has personally mentored. Bobby Rush, currently 92, will also perform, making two nonagenarians headlining the same stage.
Steve Jordan Leads the Band Behind the Legends
Steve Jordan, drummer for The Rolling Stones, will serve as music director for the night. His job is demanding: he must build a house band and manage smooth transitions between more than two dozen performers. Executive producers Keith Wortman, Garry Buck, and Scooter Weintraub are overseeing the full production, according to Relix.
Wortman, CEO of Blackbird Presents, has produced tribute shows for Willie Nelson and Robbie Robertson. He said Guy is "the living bridge to the roots of the blues" and that Radio City is "the only way to properly honor a titan who is still at the top of his game at 90."
Guy's 2025 Album Proved He Still Had More to Give
The concert announcement comes on the heels of Guy's 2025 album, "Ain't Done With the Blues." The record features guests including Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Joe Bonamassa, and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. The album topped the Billboard Blues Charts and showed no signs of faded voice or slowed fingers, according to KSLX.
Guy was born on July 30, 1936, in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He arrived in Chicago in 1957 with little more than a guitar. He was later discovered by Muddy Waters and went on to shape the electric blues sound heard in rock music for decades. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, with Eric Clapton presenting the honor.
A Debate Over Where the Blues Belongs
Not everyone agrees that Radio City Music Hall is the right home for this celebration. Some blues historians argue that the show belongs at Guy's own club, Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago, not a 6,000-seat New York theater with premium ticket prices. They say the blues grew up in small, gritty clubs — not concert halls.
Live Nation and Blackbird Presents push back on that view. They say Guy's reach stretches far beyond Chicago — especially to the British rockers of the 1960s who brought his music to the world. Tickets range from roughly $150 to $2,500 for VIP packages, with the single night projected to gross over $4.5 million, according to Yahoo.
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