joe bonamassa three kings tour

Joe Bonamassa to Honor Albert, Freddie and B.B. King on Three Kings of the Blues Tour

Joe Bonamassa is gearing up to deliver a musical tribute to the "Three Kings of the Blues"—Albert, B.B. and Freddie King.

The Three Kings Tour, Bonamassa's first-ever U.S. amphitheater tour, will feature covers of tunes by these three late blues legends.

The tour is a continuation of the celebration of our blues heritage, which began with the 2015 CD/DVD Joe Bonamassa: Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks , a tribute to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

Bonamassa will be be backed by Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Double Trouble's Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond organ), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, horn arrangements), Paulie Cerra (saxophone) and Nick Lane (trombone).

The tour kicks off August 7 at Camden, New Jersey’s Susquehanna Bank Center and ends August 29 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The Greek show will be filmed for DVD and Blu-ray. As with all Bonamassa DVD shoots, the performance at the Greek promises to bring some interesting collaborations in presenting this historical music.

You can check out all the dates below. For ticket information, visit jbonamassa.com/tour-dates.

A portion of the proceeds from this tour will go toward the Keeping the Blues Alive (KTBA) foundation, a non-profit Bonamassa founded in 2011. KTBA has funded 111 music projects and five scholarships across the 50 states, reaching more than 20,000 students. In August 2014, Bonamassa played to a sold-out crowd of more than 9,000 fans at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. For each ticket sold, $5 was donated to KTBA, raising more than $40,000 to fund struggling music programs around the country.

For more information, visit keepingthebluesalive.org, jbonamassa.com and Bonamassa's Facebook page.

2015 Joe Bonamassa Three Kings Tour

FRI Aug 7 CAMDEN, NJSUSQUEHANNA BANK CENTER SAT Aug 8 HOLMDEL, NJPNC BANK ARTS CENTER MON Aug 10 SARATOGA, NYSARATOGA PAC TUE Aug 11 CAPE CODE, MACAPE COD MELODY TENT WED Aug 12 BANGOR, MEDARLING’S WATERFRONT PAVILION FRI Aug 14 CUYAHOGA FALLS, OHBLOSSOM MUSIC CENTER SAT Aug 15 DAYTON, OHFRAZE PAVILION MON Aug 17 MORRISON, CORED ROCKS AMPHITHEATRE THU Aug 20 SALT LAKE CITY, UTUSANA AMPHITHEATRE SAT Aug 22 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CASHORLINE AMPHITHEATRE MON Aug 24 PASO ROBLES, CAVINA ROBLES AMPHITHEATRE TUE Aug 25 SANTA BARBARA, CASANTA BARBARA BOWL WED Aug 26 SAN DIEGO, CAHUMPHREYS CONCERTS BY THE BAY FRI Aug 28 SAN DIEGO, CAHUMPHREYS CONCERTS BY THE BAY SAT Aug 29 LOS ANGELES, CAGREEK THEATRE

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Guitarist Joe Bonamassa celebrates Albert King, Freddie King and B.B. King at the Greek

Musician Joe Bonamassa performing in San Diego on August 26.

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“Bona-Who?”

That catchphrase seen on concert T-shirts neatly sums up the conundrum that is Joe Bonamassa, the 38-year-old singer-guitarist who played to a near sellout crowd at the Greek Theatre over the weekend.

A child prodigy on guitar, Bonamassa opened for B.B. King at age 12 and was profiled on NBC’s “Real Life With Jane Pauley” a year later in 1991. Successfully transitioning to an adult career, he’s traded licks onstage with Eric Clapton, toured the globe and has sold more than 2.5 million albums.

Yet like most of the guitar-playing bluesmen he reveres, he’s not exactly a household name.

Cult-figure status has its own appeal, however, and the cognoscenti at the Greek on Saturday night (including Jimmy Vivino, ace guitarist and bandleader for Conan O’Brien’s late-night TV show) were treated to a virtuoso performance celebrating the music of guitar heroes Bonamassa billed as the Three Kings: Albert King, Freddie King and B.B. King.

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Backed by three singers and a seven-piece band that included another late-night TV veteran, drummer Anton Fig (of the recently ended “Late Show With David Letterman”), Bonamassa tore through nearly two dozen of the greatest blues songs ever conjured, including “I’m Going Down,” “Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Cadillac Assembly Line” and of course “The Thrill Is Gone,” which closed the night.

Playing instruments correct to all three bluesmen — including a guitar custom-made for Albert King, on loan from its current owner, actor Steven Seagal — Bonamassa evoked the signature licks of all three icons while managing to put his own stamp on things.

Despite the focus on guitar heroics, the music had swing and polish, with Bonamassa generously sharing solos with guitarist Kirk Fletcher and keyboard player Reese Wynans (who played keys for Stevie Ray Vaughan). Bonamassa’s singing, easy to overlook amid all those guitar solos, was abetted by his trio of backup singers, led by Mahalia Barnes.

In an interview a few days before the concert, Bonamassa said he got the idea for the Three Kings tour after doing a tribute show to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf at Red Rocks Amphitheatre near Denver last summer.

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“My only regret is that B.B. is not alive to see it,” he said, reckoning that he played at least 75 shows with the late bluesman, who died May 14 (Freddie and Albert passed decades earlier). “It was such an experience to play with him and just be around him.”

Bonamassa thinks B.B. King hired him in large part because he was “a cheap opening act,” earning less than $500 a night. He used the experience to soak up knowledge about being a musician, lessons he says he follows to this day.

B.B. King’s most memorable advice had little to do with guitar playing, however.

“He always used to say, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing, and watch your money. It’s a business like anything else,’” Bonamassa recalled.

The Greek was the last stop on the 14-date Three Kings tour, and for Bonamassa it had sentimental value. He said when he first moved to Los Angeles 13 years ago, he lived in the Los Feliz Manor apartment building and would buy peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches at the Chevron station at Vermont Avenue and Los Feliz Boulevard.

He watched people driving up to the 5,900-capacity Greek and dreamed of playing there someday. Making it a blues night, he said, just sweetened the deal — taking blues beyond the small clubs and juke joints where it is most often experienced.

“People tend to marginalize the blues,” he said. “I don’t think Freddie King ever played a room as big as the Greek.”

Bonamassa keeps an active recording and touring schedule (another slogan he uses on his merchandise is “Always on the Road”) and says the Three Kings project was intended as a short-term diversion.

The show was filmed for eventual digital release as well as airings on public television, where Bonamassa’s “Muddy Wolf” show at Red Rocks is already in rotation.

“You celebrate the masters,” he said. “If I can be successful at celebrating the masters, I can walk away a happy person.

“I’m by no means comparing myself to these people,” he added. “It’s celebrating music I really enjoy.”

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Joe Bonamassa

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As Joe Bonamassa approaches his 26th year as a professional musician, he continues to blaze a remarkably versatile artistic trail, and amass an authentic, innovative and soulful body of work. Bonamassa’s career began onstage opening for B.B. King in 1989, when he was only 12 years old. Today, he is hailed worldwide as one of the greatest guitar players of his generation, and is an ever-evolving singer-songwriter who has released 16 solo albums in the last 14 years, all on his own label, J&R Adventures. Bonamassa’s tour schedule consistently hovers at around 100 shows worldwide each year, and a heaping handful of markedly diverse side projects keep him thinking outside the box and flexing every musical muscle he’s got. He founded and oversees the non-profit Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation to promote the heritage of the blues to the next generation, fund music scholarships, and supplement the loss of music education in public schools. There’s a case to be made that Joe Bonamassa, like another star who shared the same initials, is the hardest working man in show business.

This spring, Bonamassa and J&R Adventures released two projects. The first was a collaboration with powerhouse singer Mahalia Barnes, one of the most impressive female vocalists to come out of Australia, and her band The Soul Mates on an album of Betty Davis covers called Ooh Yea! – The Betty Davis Songbook, which explores tracks from Davis’ sexy, raw funk records of the early 70s. Next is the CD, DVD and Blu-ray Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, a tribute to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf that was filmed last summer to a sold-out 9,000 person crowd at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Glide Magazine called it “one of the best live blues albums released in the last decade.”

Unlike any Bonamassa show before, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks marks the start of a tribute concert series that will display a different band and catalog of material that will vary from Bonamassa’s music as a solo artist. This summer, he’ll continue his celebration of blues heritage with the Three Kings of Blues Tour during which he’ll travel to amphitheaters across the country with a musical tribute to Albert King, B.B. King, and Freddie King.

It all builds on Bonamassa’s ascendant prominence of the past few years. Recent kudos include his very first Grammy nomination for Best Blues Album, which he earned with much-buzzed-about singer-songwriter Beth Hart for their sophomore collaboration, Seesaw; a #1 debut on the Billboard Music Video Chart and Billboard Blues Chart for Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks; 14 #1 Billboard Blues Albums (more than any other artist); a platinum DVD certification for Joe Bonamassa: Live At The Royal Albert Hall; five consecutive “Best Blues Guitarist” wins and a top “Best Overall Guitarist” honor in Guitar Player’s Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, and recognition as Billboard’s #1 Blues Artist in 2010 and more recently in 2014.

Last fall, a much-anticipated new solo studio album called Different Shades Of Blue was released featuring all-new, all-original material. He recorded it in Nashville with Jonathan Cain (Journey), James House (Diamond Rio, Dwight Yoakam, Martina McBride) and Jerry Flowers (Keith Urban). It debuted at #8 on Billboard’s Top 200, Bonamassas’s highest charting album, first top 10, and biggest sales week ever. According to Billboard, “Different Shades of Blue is the highest-ranking blues album in almost two years.”

Critics echoed its accolades calling it the guitarist’s “most cohesive and satisfying artistic statement yet” (MOJO), “ the best yet and then some from an artist whose vision continues to expand with every release” (Uncut) and “a career high” (American Way).

With sales climbing and accolades pouring in, music insiders and media are beginning to take note of J&R Adventures, the label Bonamassa started with longtime manager Roy Weisman ten years ago. Together, the two mavericks have built a business model that is thriving and nimble in a shaky and unpredictable industry. With divisions in publishing, management, promotion, and memorabilia, the label gives control to the artist and its management directly, rather than a larger entity. This strategy has allowed them to redefine the kind of success an independent artist is capable of, making them two of the music industry’s more savvy entrepreneurs and disruptors.

As usual, Bonamassa will continue performing live-on-stage, which is exactly where he’s most comfortable. “No one on the scene today plays with as much passion, has as much finesse and raw talent, has reverence for those who came before him, and has as much passion for his craft as Joe Bonamassa,” writes Classic Rock Revisited.

In January, he graced a new stage when he headlined two sold-out nights at the iconic Radio City Music Hall – a feat Bonamassa himself almost can’t quite believe. But Bonamassa’s still got a long way to go, and will certainly in turn inspire many who come after him as he continues to reinvent himself with a varied palette of side projects—and logs endless miles “dressing up in sunglasses and a suit,” touring the world and growing his legacy as one of the greatest guitar slingers of all time.

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Published: 2015/02/02

Joe Bonamassa Launches “Three Kings” Tour

Joe Bonamassa will kick off his “Three Kings” Tour, a musical tribute to Albert, B.B. and Freddie King, this August beginning in Camden, NJ. The show will feature covers from the three blues legends performed by Bonamassa and continues the celebration of the genre that the guitarist began in 2014 with his Muddy Wolf set at Red Rocks. That event paid tribute to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

Tickets go on sale February 7 at 10 AM local time. To purchase tickets, visit Bonamassa’s website. Consult the full tour schedule below.

Joe Bonamassa Three Kings Tour Dates:

August 7 Camden, NJ—Susquehanna Bank Center August 8 Holmdel, NJ— PNC Bank Arts Center August 10 Saratoga Springs, NY—Saratoga Springs Performing Arts Center August 12 Bangor, ME—Darlings Waterfront Park August 14 Cuyahoga Falls, OH—Blossom Music Center August 15 Dayton, OH—Fraze Pavilion August 17 Denver, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre August 20 Salt Lake City, UT— USANA Amphitheatre August 22 Mountain View, CA—Shoreline Amphitheatre August 24 Paso Robles, CA—Vina Robles Amphitheatre August 25 Santa Barbara, CA—Santa Barbara Bowl August 26 & 28 San Diego, CA—Humphreys by the Bay August 29 Los Angeles, CA—The Greek Theatre

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Bluesman joe bonamassa pays tribute to the three kings.

It’s not often you hear of a blues artist playing arena shows.

But guitarist Joe Bonamassa, 39, is no ordinary blues artist. He has released 16 solo albums in 14 years on J&R Adventures, his own label. On top of that, he has played with everyone from Eric Clapton to Buddy Guy and Derek Trucks.

Bonamassa has been around stars since he was a boy. When he was just 12 years old he opened for B.B. King.

Now he’s paying tribute to the King of the Blues, as well as legends Albert King and Freddie King on his “Three Kings Tour.” The 15-show tour kicks off Friday at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden.

Bonamassa’s most recent studio album was 2014’s “Different Shades of Blue,” with all originals, with the exception of a Jimi Hendrix cover. But he will not be playing any of his own music on the tour.

The tour follows a tribute concert he did to honor blues greats Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, called “Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks,” which also is on CD and DVD/Blu-ray. The last concert on “Three Kings Tour” at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles also will be recorded and released on CD and DVD/Blu-ray

Playing the music of American blues artists may seem like a different direction for Bonamassa, who has said in interviews that he is mostly influenced by British blues players, and lists Eric Clapton as one of his idols.

He recognizes that it is a departure and hints that he may do some tribute concerts to British blues players next year. But, he says, playing these tribute concerts is a “labor of love.”

“It’s a catalog of music that means a lot to me,” he says in a phone intervieew from his home in Los Angeles. “That’s the DNA of the modern blues player — Freddie, B.B. and Albert. They were the most successful, they had the best songs, the best touring careers … Their influence is so grand as singers and as players … it never gets boring.”

With B.B. King’s passing this year, Bonamassa says it makes his tribute to the King of the Blues more important to him. He knew B.B. King for about 25 years, he adds, and says King was always kind and generous.

Bonamassa is recognized by many not only as one of the greatest modern blues guitarists, but also the most successful. “Different Shades of Blue” peaked at No. 8 in Billboard’s Top 200.

The guitarist says he “hate[s] for it to just boil down to sheer money,” but his success makes the 11-piece band, five buses, three trucks and other tour expenses possible.

“The success we’ve had allows me to kind of go exploring a little bit like we’re doing this summer and … really to make a run at these songs and do them the proper way: 11-piece band, three background singers, three horns … five people in the group. So it’s really great, you know, I’m really excited about it,” Bonamassa says.

However, Bonamassa says he likes playing in theaters better than arenas. Because of the lights in an arena show and the size of the audience, it’s tough to see anything [from the stage]. In a theater, he says, you can look out and see the crowd grooving.

“It’s much more symbiotic with your audience, in my opinion,” he says.

Still, Bonamassa does like some aspects of arena shows.

“You get a hell of a reverb when you’re singing,” he says.

The six-string player is not worried about balancing his signature sound with playing songs by these blues greats. He has a simple explanation for why.

“I’m not Freddie King,” Bonamassa says. “That’s how you balance it … I’m not Freddie King nor am I trying to be Freddie King. I’m just singing those songs the way I’m trying to sing them.”

“Same thing with Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters,” he adds. “I’m not Muddy Waters, I’m not Howlin’ Wolf, but I can sing it myself and do as good as job as I can singing that catalog of music … I can only do what I can do personally and hopefully people like my spin on it.”

The blues artist has a list of 30 songs his band planned to rehearse before the tour, but at the time of the interview he had not decided which songs will be in the set. But he promises he’ll do B.B. King’s hit “The Thrill is Gone.”

A portion of the proceeds for the “Three Kings Tour” will go to the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Bonamassa that supports music education by funding scholarships and programs. “Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks” also benefited the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation.

Meanwhile, Bonamassa says he recently finished recording a new album with 11 original songs he hopes will be released in the spring. Bonamassa says he’ll follow its release with another tour.

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Twitter: @William_WGordon

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JOE BONAMASSA

* Who: Renowned blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa, who has played with greats such as Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy, kicks off off the “Three Kings Tour” to pay tribute to B.B. King, Freddie King and Albert King.

* Where: Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden

* When: 8 p.m. Friday Aug. 7

* How much: $75-$130

* Info: www.susquehannabankcenter.com

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Matteo Mancuso raves about being invited to play onstage with Joe Bonamassa

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Yesterday, Joe Bonamassa invited his new favorite guitar player – Matteo Mancuso – on stage at the Uber Arena in Berlin. In a social media post, Mancuso expressed his gratitude for the opportunity.

“Yesterday I had the chance to play with the legend Joe Bonamassa at the Uber Arena,” he wrote. “Such an otherworldly experience to play with Joe and his band in a huge arena like this one! It honestly felt like daydreaming! Thank you so much Joe and all the band for this unforgettable moment. It was simply one of the best musical experiences I ever had.”

In fan-shot video footage, Bonamassa and Mancuso can be seen exchanging blistering solos over Ann Peebles' I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home Tonight – and it's safe to say the audience enjoyed the collaboration.

In a 2020 livestream , Joe Bonamassa referred to Mancuso as his new favorite guitarist. “It's the most incredible thing I've ever seen since I first saw Stanley Jordan. This kid from Italy rips like Eric Johnson, then he'll play over changes and then he'll play Iron Maiden. I mean, it's the most versatile thing I've ever seen... he's playing it like a jazz bass , but he's ripping!”

Mancuso is already well-known for his unique fingerstyle technique — one inspired by his classical training. In an interview with Guitar World , he explained: "I started to apply some rules on my right-hand technique, based on what I learned from the classical world.

“It really helped me a lot in terms of technique and economy of motion. Also, studying other instruments’ solos inspired me a lot in terms of finding new solutions for the right hand.”

In addition to Bonamassa, Mancuso has also been praised by Al Di Meola, who called him “an absolute talent; his improvisational ability is light years ahead. It would take two or three lifetimes.” Steve Vai went a step further, saying: “The evolution of guitar is firmly secure in the hands of these kinds of players.”

It's unclear whether Mancuso will join Bonamassa on any other dates of his current European tour. However, Mancuso is set to headline the Casino Barrière, in Montreux, Switzerland, on April 26. Meanwhile, Joe Bonamassa will embark on his Blues Deluxe Tour this summer, which kicks off on July 17 in Selbyville, Delaware.

A post shared by Matteo Mancuso (@matteomancuso.guitar) A photo posted by on

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Bonamassa to honor blues legends in this summer's Three Kings Tour

with Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Derek Trucks! Performing "Going Down"

Blues-Rock Titan Joe Bonamassa paid homage to Freddie King three years ago at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony and now Joe’s about to pay tribute to all three Kings of the blues, Albert, B.B., and Freddie! Joe’s taking this brand new, action-packed show on the road through the U.S. this summer, featuring the stunning music of these three legendary icons and a powerhouse backing band of blues aces.

A continuation of the Keeping the Blues Alive blues heritage celebration that started with 2014’s Muddy Wolf show at the sublime Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the Three Kings Tour will culminate at the stunning Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, a show which will be filmed for a future DVD and Blu-Ray release. Tickets go on sale to the general public on February 7th at 10:00 A.M. EST, so make sure you get yours and be there this summer to help Joe hail the Three Kings of Blues!

JB Three Kings Tour Tee

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