Royal Albert Hall to host Jeff Beck tribute shows
Triple A Entertainment Group is teaming with Eric Clapton to stage two concerts honouring the memory and artistry of the late guitar great Jeff Beck.
Beck passed away peacefully on 10 January this year after contracting bacterial meningitis. The 2x Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee rose to fame in the 1960s after succeeding Clapton as a member of the Yardbirds, and went on to front the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice, before enjoying success as a solo artist.
The tribute shows will take place at the Royal Albert Hall in London from 22-23 May. The list of artists appearing will be finalised nearer the time, but acts expected to take part in both concerts include Clapton, Doyle Bramhall, Gary Clark Jr, Billy Gibbons, Imelda May, John McLaughlin, Robert Randolph, Olivia Safe, Rod Stewart, Joss Stone, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, in addition to Rhonda Smith, Anika Nilles and Robert Stevenson from the Jeff Beck Band.
Surplus income from the tribute concerts will be donated to the Folly Wildlife Rescue based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent
The actor Johnny Depp is also set to perform on both nights. Depp played a number of dates with Beck, including at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the pair recorded the collaborative album 18, released in July 2022.
Surplus income from the tribute concerts will be donated to the Folly Wildlife Rescue based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
Triple A previously partnered with Kilimanjaro Live to present Beck’s two dates at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May last year.
“We were fortunate to have promoted him on many occasions and he delivered every time,” Triple A’s Pete Wilson told IQ earlier this year. “Our live world has lost a unique genius.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
‘A unique genius’: live industry mourns Jeff Beck
The music world is mourning Jeff Beck following the guitar great’s death aged 78.
A statement released on behalf of his family said that Surrey-born Beck passed away peacefully on 10 January after contracting bacterial meningitis.
The multi award-winning 2x Rock and Roll Hall of Famer rose to fame in the 1960s after succeeding Eric Clapton as a member of the Yardbirds, and went on to front the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice, before enjoying success as a solo artist.
Last year, Beck played a number of dates with the actor Johnny Depp, including at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the pair recorded the collaborative album 18, released in July 2022.
“I doubt very much that in my lifetime I will see a better musician”
Beck’s longtime agent Phil Banfield of Wasserman Music tells IQ: “I represented Jeff for almost 40 years as his agent. He was a genius on the guitar, the closest you were ever going to get to Hendrix.
“Every concert I went to – be it in Europe, Australia, Japan, or South America – I, along with the audience, was mesmerised. He made the impossible look easy and I doubt very much that in my lifetime I will see a better musician.”
Promoters Kilimanjaro Live and Triple A Entertainment teamed up to present Beck’s two dates at London’s Royal Albert Hall in May last year.
“We were fortunate to have promoted him on many occasions and he delivered every time,” says Triple A’s Pete Wilson. “Our live world has lost a unique genius.”
“A gentleman; the greatest of guitar heroes and such an honour to work with,” add Kili’s Stuart Galbraith and Alan Day.
“Watching him play night after night was always a joy. He was the Guitarist’s Guitarist”
In recent years, Beck was represented by CAA on the live scene.
Harvey Goldsmith, who became Beck’s manager in 2009, posts on Facebook: “So saddened by the news of Jeff Beck passing. So many good memories. Watching him play night after night was always a joy. He was the Guitarist’s Guitarist. RIP a legend.”
An array of his former collaborators and other music legends including Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Stevie Van Zandt, David Gilmour, U2, Jon Bon Jovi, Brian Wilson, ZZ Top, Ozzy Osbourne and Joe Satriani have taken to social media to pay tribute.
“With the death of Jeff Beck, we have lost a wonderful man and one of the greatest guitar players in the world,” writes Jagger on Twitter. “We will all miss him so much.”
“Jeff Beck was on another planet,” adds Stewart. “He took me and Ronnie Wood to the USA in the late 60s in his band the Jeff Beck Group and we haven’t looked back since. He was one of the few guitarists that when playing live would actually listen to me sing and respond. Jeff, you were the greatest, my man. Thank you for everything.”
Beck is survived by his wife Sandra Cash.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Johnny Depp to perform with Jeff Beck at Montreux
Montreux Jazz Festival has announced that Johnny Depp will join Jeff Beck on stage at the 56th edition of the Swiss music festival.
The event runs from 1-16 July, with Beck’s performance already confirmed for Auditorium Stravinski stage on Friday 15 July.
Depp has joined Beck for several performances on his latest UK tour, amid the culmination of the former’s well publicised defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp and Beck have released their first single as a duo, Isolation ahead of an upcoming album they have been working on together, which is due for release this summer.
Depp previously performed at Montreux in 2018 as part of the Hollywood Vampires supergroup he formed alongside Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.
Other acts billed for this year’s event include Diana Ross, Stormzy, Björk, Sam Ryder, Nick Cave and The Smile.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.