Various Artists - The Thrill Is Gone - A Tribute to B.B. King, Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, 2-16-2020

The great blues legend B.B. King died in 2015, at the age of 89. I'm not sure what took so long, but five years later, there was this tribute concert celebrating his music. This is unusually long compared to most tribute concerts, at nearly four hours long. The vast majority of it was professionally recorded for a webcast, so the sound quality is mostly excellent. 

Note that I said "the vast majority" of this was professionally recorded, not all. That's because it seems a couple of performers didn't allow their songs to be included in the webcast. For those, I tried to find the songs elsewhere. I found a couple of the missing songs on YouTube, but the sound quality on those isn't as good as the rest. I couldn't find "You Shook Me" performed by Ann Wilson and Robert Randolph, as well as "Night Life" and "Take It Home" by Jamey Johnston. If anyone has those, please let me know and I'll add them in.

There was an impressive list of musicians who performed for this concert, including Buddy Guy, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, John Scofield, Ann Wilson (of Heart), David Hidalgo (of Los Lobos), Ivan Neville (of the Neville Brothers), Jimmie Vaughan (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Little Steven, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Shemekia Copeland, William Bell, and more.

Actually, this concert was performed two nights in a row, but only one night was broadcast. I don't know how different the other night might have been. 

The music here remains unreleased. The sound quality is excellent, except for the few I took from other sources. Most of those are near the end, for instance "When Love Comes to Town" by Ann Wilson.

This album is three hours and 47 minutes long. 

01 talk (Wavy Gravy)
02 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
03 BB's Theme [Instrumental] (Tony C.C. Coleman)
04 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
05 You Upset Me Baby (Tony C.C. Coleman)
06 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
07 I Got a Mind to Give Up Living (Bob Margolin)
08 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
09 Let Me In (Bobby Rush)
10 talk (Bobby Rush)
11 Garbage Man (Bobby Rush)
12 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
13 Hummingbird (Val B. King & Frank Bacombe)
14 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
15 Let the Good Times Roll (Little Steven)
16 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
17 Beautician Blues (Southside Johnny)
18 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
19 Never Make a Move Too Soon (John Scofield & Ivan Neville)
20 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
21 Why I Sing the Blues (Kingfish)
22 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
23 Powerhouse [Instrumental] (David Hidalgo)
24 talk (David Hidalgo)
25 Need Your Love So Bad (David Hidalgo)
26 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
27 Please Love Me (Jimmy Vaughan)
28 talk (Jimmy Vaughan)
29 Woke Up This Morning (Jimmy Vaughan)
30 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
31 Blue Shadows (William Bell)
32 talk (William Bell)
33 Ain't Nobody Home (William Bell)
34 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
35 Paying the Cost to Be the Boss (Shemekia Copeland)
36 talk (Shemekia Copeland)
37 Call It Stormy Monday (Shemekia Copeland & John Scofield)
38 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
39 Three O'Clock Blues (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
40 talk (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
41 You Don't Know (Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi)
42 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
43 So Excited (Warren Haynes)
44 How Blue Can You Get (Warren Haynes)
45 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
46 Ghetto Woman (Robert Randolph with Ivan Neville)
47 talk (Robert Randolph & Ivan Neville)
48 Don't Cry No More (Robert Randolph & Ivan Neville)
49 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
50 I Like to Live the Love (Robert Cray)
51 Troubles, Troubles, Troubles (Robert Cray)
52 When Love Comes to Town (Ann Wilson)
53 Sweet Little Angel - It's My Fault (Buddy Guy)
54 talk (Buddy Guy)
55 The Thrill Is Gone (Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Ann Wilson, Robert Cray & Shemekia Copeland)
56 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
57 talk (Tony C.C. Coleman)
58 Everyday I Have the Blues (Everybody)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/YVLheabH

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/90vA8uFEYrvrlzM/file

The cover photo shows an encore from this exact concert. In the front row, from right to left: Robert Cray, Warren Haynes, William Bell, Susan Tedeschi, Shemekia Copeland, and (probably) Robert Rudolph.

Buddy Guy - Philadelphia Folk Festival, Old Pool Farm, Schwenksville, PA, 8-24-1968

Here's the fourth album I've found from the 1968 Philadelphia Folk Festival. It's a set by Buddy Guy.

If you look at the list of performers at this festival, this music seems out of place. Guy came to rock, with a full band, yet it was a folk festival. It must be one of the very few times songs like "I Got You (I Feel Good," originally by James Brown, were played at a folk festival! But hey, I'm not complaining. Since it seems most everything from these festivals were professionally recorded, this is one of the first live recording from Guy's long music career that has survived with excellent sound quality.

At least Guy started out in folky mode. The first three tracks here actually come from an afternoon performance at some kind of acoustic workshop. So the two songs there consisted of just Guy and an acoustic guitar. Later in his career, he performed many acoustic concerts, often with his frequently musical partner Junior Wells. But apparently this was very unusual for him at this point in his career.

The rest of the songs are from a concert that evening. That portion is 45 minutes long. In it, Guy and his band straddled the line between soul and blues. In addition to playing the James Brown song mentioned above, they also did a version of the soul classic "Knock on Wood."

This album is 51 minutes long.

01 talk (Buddy Guy)
02 Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl (Buddy Guy)
03 Rock Me Baby (Buddy Guy)
04 Instrumental (Buddy Guy)
05 talk (Buddy Guy)
06 Crazy about You Baby (Buddy Guy)
07 talk (Buddy Guy)
08 Sweet Sixteen (Buddy Guy)
09 talk (Buddy Guy)
10 I Got You [I Feel Good] (Buddy Guy)
11 Knock on Wood (Buddy Guy)
12 Call It Stormy Monday (Buddy Guy)
13 Mary Had a Little Lamb (Buddy Guy)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/BY2T8J4n

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/vdknhIANwJS3NmI/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. It must have been taken during his afternoon acoustic set, since his evening performance took place in the dark. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.

John Mayer with Buddy Guy - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 6-29-2004

Here's yet another episode of the great "PBS Soundstage" TV show. This one stars singer-songwriter John Mayer. But it also includes blues legend Buddy Guy as a guest star.

I'm not a huge John Mayer fan, but his music is certainly good enough to be worthy of a Soundstage episode. And while that show encourages the inclusion of guest stars, I was impressed that Mayer chose Buddy Guy, out of all people. Like Guy, Mayer is a talented lead guitarist, and the two of them jammed well together near the end of the concert. Guy also got to sing one of his songs at the end.

At the time of this concert, Mayer had released two albums. Both of them sold at least three million copies. So he was at or near the peak of his popularity, though he continued to sell at that level through the rest of the decade.

The music here is unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is 57 minutes long.

01 talk (John Mayer)
02 Clarity (John Mayer)
03 No Such Thing (John Mayer)
04 talk (John Mayer)
05 Something's Missing (John Mayer)
06 talk (John Mayer)
07 Why Georgia (John Mayer)
08 talk (John Mayer)
09 Bigger than My Body (John Mayer)
10 Daughters (John Mayer)
11 talk (John Mayer)
12 Your Body Is a Wonderland (John Mayer)
13 Come Back to Bed (John Mayer with Buddy Guy)
14 talk (John Mayer with Buddy Guy)
15 Damn Right, I've Got the Blues (John Mayer & Buddy Guy)
16 talk (John Mayer with Buddy Guy) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/htLkXHt1

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/voUMgU0Zop1kzZm/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert.

Various Artists - 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert, Madison Square Garden, New York City, 10-30-2009

I just posted the first day of the two-day long 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert, in 2009. Here's the second day.

This second day concert followed the same format as the one on the first day. Read my write-up for more details about this two-day concert in general. Suffice to say that for this day, four major musical acts were chosen: Aretha Franklin, Jeff Beck, Metallica, and U2. Each of them hosted one fourth of the concert, and each had special guests join them during their sections. 

I was a bit surprised by the choice of Jeff Beck, since his record sales weren't nearly as big as the others. It turns out that section was supposed to be for Eric Clapton, but he got sick at the last minute and had to back out. So Beck was another "guitar hero" to fill a similar role.

I detailed in my write-up for the first day of this concert how I put a longer concert out of material from a DVD, plus the HBO broadcast, plus an audience bootleg. That's the same case here, except I didn't find an audience boot for all the otherwise missing songs. I did find such a boot for some of the Metallica songs, but that didn't even have the entire Metallica set. But it did get me "You Really Got Me," with Ray Davies of the Kinks as the guest. 

The Wikipedia page for this concert lists all the songs that were performed, in their correct order. Here's that page:

25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concerts - Wikipedia 

Based on that, it looks like I'm missing five songs. Here are the songs that I couldn't find:

Drown in My Own Tears - Jeff Beck (or possibly Aretha Franklin, I'm not sure)
Cause We've Ended as Lovers - Jeff Beck
Rough Boy - Jeff Beck & Billy Gibbons
One - Metallica
Stone Cold Crazy - Metallica 

That's too bad, but at least the vast majority is here. If anyone has any of the missing songs, please let me know. The first day concert that I posted is a little over four hours long, whereas this one is two and a half hours long. If you add in the missing songs, this probably totals about three hours, not four. So I think the first day one is a little longer, and better. I'll bet some of that was due to Bruce Springsteen, as his section on the first day was extra long.

One interesting note about this concert is that the collaboration of Metallica with Lou Reed - a very unexpected pairing - eventually led to the recordings of the album "Lulu," a joint Metallica and Lou Reed release, in 2011. 

A couple of performers who appeared in the first day concert also appeared in this one. Jeff Beck played a song on the first day, and had his own section here. Sting sang duets on both days. And Bruce Springsteen had his own section on the first day, and sang two songs with U2 here. Jerry Lee Lewis also opened both days with a song.

The sound quality is generally excellent. The quality is actually higher here than on the first day, because I only have one song sourced from an audience boot this time ("You Really Got Me," as mentioned above). I ran into many of the same problems with the first day, such as having to smooth over the transitions between songs by adding extra cheering noises. Read my write-up about the other concert for more details on all that. 

This album is two hours and 33 minutes long.

01 talk (Tom Hanks)
02 Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis)
03 Baby, I Love You (Aretha Franklin)
04 Don't Play That Song [You Lied] (Aretha Franklin)
05 Make Them Hear You (Aretha Franklin)
06 talk (Aretha Franklin)
07 Chain of Fools (Aretha Franklin & Annie Lennox)
08 Theme from New York, New York (Aretha Franklin)
09 Think (Aretha Franklin & Lenny Kravitz)
10 [I Never Loved a Man] The Way I Love You (Aretha Franklin)
11 Respect (Aretha Franklin)
12 People Get Ready (Sting & Jeff Beck)
13 Freeway Jam [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
14 talk (Jeff Beck)
15 Let Me Love You Baby (Buddy Guy & Jeff Beck)
16 Big Block [Instrumental] (Jeff Beck)
17 Rice Pudding [Instrumental] (Billy Gibbons & Jeff Beck)
18 Foxy Lady (Billy Gibbons & Jeff Beck)
19 A Day in the Life [Instrumental Version] (Jeff Beck)
20 For Whom the Bell Tolls (Metallica)
21 talk (Metallica)
22 Turn the Page (Metallica)
23 talk (Metallica)
24 Sweet Jane (Lou Reed & Metallica)
25 talk (Metallica)
26 White Light-White Heat (Lou Reed & Metallica)
27 talk (Metallica)
28 Iron Man (Ozzy Osbourne & Metallica)
29 Paranoid (Ozzy Osbourne & Metallica)
30 talk (Metallica)
31 You Really Got Me (Ray Davies & Metallica)
32 All Day and All of the Night (Ray Davies & Metallica)
33 Enter Sandman (Metallica)
34 Vertigo (U2)
35 Magnificent (U2)
36 talk (U2)
37 Because the Night (U2, Bruce Springsteen & Patti Smith)
38 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2 & Bruce Springsteen)
39 Mysterious Ways (U2)
40 Where Is the Love - One (U2 & the Black Eyed Peas)
41 talk (U2)
42 Gimme Shelter (U2, Mick Jagger, Fergie & will.i.am)
43 talk (U2)
44 Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of (U2 & Mick Jagger)
45 Beautiful Day (U2)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/UZjACSG5

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/mtktsXHvZPk8rgE/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. From left to right: Bono, The Edge, Fergie, and Mick Jagger.

Bonnie Raitt with Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 12-17-1974

Here's another one of the "PBS Soundstage" shows that had an interesting guest star. In this case, the main star was Bonnie Raitt, and the guest star was the blues duo of Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.

Raitt's first album came out in 1971. For her first few albums, she leaned more heavily into the blues than she did with her later albums. So it's not too surprising that when she was allowed to pick guest stars for her Soundstage episode, she chose the likes of Guy and Wells. Even long after her more bluesy phase of her career, she's frequently made sure to pay tribute to her musical roots. 

Guy and Wells had a musical partnership that lasted decades, with Guy playing lead guitar and Wells playing harmonica, and both of them singing. The concert started with just Guy as the star, singing "Man of Many Words," a song from the 1972 album "Play the Blues" by Guy and Wells. Then Wells joined him on stage and sang the next two songs. 

After that, Guy and Wells left and most of the show was devoted to a fairly typical Bonnie Raitt set for the time. Note that she did a version of "Don't Fight It," a Wilson Pickett song she never put on album. But for the second to last song, "Everybody's Crying Mercy," Wells returned to the stage and sang the song with her. Then Guy also got back on stage and the three of them finished the concert with "Long Lonesome Road."

The music here is unreleased. But the sound quality is excellent.

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
02 Man of Many Words (Buddy Guy)
03 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
04 Little by Little (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
05 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
06 I Wouldn't Have to Sing the Blues (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
07 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
08 Mystery Train (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
09 Love Me like a Man (Bonnie Raitt)
10 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
11 Any Day Woman (Bonnie Raitt)
12 Under the Falling Sky (Bonnie Raitt)
13 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
14 Write Me a Few of Your Lines - Kokomo Blues (Bonnie Raitt)
15 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
16 Women Be Wise (Bonnie Raitt)
17 talk (Bonnie Raitt)
18 Angel from Montgomery (Bonnie Raitt)
19 Don't Fight It (Bonnie Raitt)
20 talk (Bonnie Raitt with Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
21 Everybody's Crying Mercy (Bonnie Raitt & Junior Wells)
22 Long Lonesome Road (Bonnie Raitt with Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/pkU5F8m2

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/U6yPVcbWMGXDmVP/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. That's Raitt with Junior Wells on harmonica. I wish I could have found a picture with Buddy Guy in it too, but this was the best one I could find.

Newport Folk Festival, Festival Field, Newport, RI, 7-25-1968 to 7-28-1968, Part 10 - Buddy Guy & Junior Wells

This is the last of ten albums featuring the biggest names from the 1968 Newport Folk Festival. This time, it's a set from the blues duo Buddy Guy and Junior Wells.

Guy and Wells were successful solo artists, but they also had a long and successful partnership, sometimes working as a duo from the 1960s until Wells died in 1998. I believe they started performing together around 1966, but they wouldn't release their first album as a duo until 1972. I can't say this with total certainty, but I think this is their best and only concert recording as a duo from the 1960s.

Guy and Wells did different types of blues together. They've even done some acoustic albums which I particularly like. But at this phase of their career, they mostly played a more rocking and lively form of blues, sometimes even veering into soul music. This was helped by the fact they were assisted by a horn section. You can see that here by the fact that they finished with a cover of "I Got You (I Feel Good)," the soul classic by James Brown.

This concert is 39 minutes long.

129 talk by George Wein (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
130 Intro [Instrumental] (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
131 One Room Country Shack (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
132 Checkin' on My Baby (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
133 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
134 Hoodoo Man Blues (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
135 Messin' with the Kid (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
136 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
137 Help Me (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
138 talk (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)
139 Call It Stormy Monday - I Got You [I Feel Good] (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)

https://www.upload.ee/files/17205342/VA-NEWPRTFLKFESTIVL196810BuddyGy_JniorWlls.zip.html

alternate:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Cg8bXPax

The cover photo comes from this exact concert.

UPDATE: On October 5, 2024, I upgraded the photo with the use of the Krea AI program.

Various Artists - Apollo Hall of Fame, Apollo Theatre, New York City, 7-15-1993

The Apollo Theatre is a concert venue in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem with a legendary history. With Harlem being a predominantly black neighborhood and a center of black cultural trends, it's best known for featuring black musicians, especially in the soul genre. In 1993, the people running the venue decided to start a yearly hall of fame ceremony. For their first one, they had a two hour show broadcast on national TV honoring the first few inductees. Apparently, this hall of fame tradition has continued, but I've only found good recordings from the 1993 one.

I haven't been able to find the full show, so I only know bits and pieces. But it seems that year's inductees included Ray Charles, James Brown, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald.

Here's an article about it, from Variety Magazine at the time:

Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame - Variety

Ray Charles showed up and played, but James Brown did not. Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald had passed away by that time. But many other famous musicians performed. Some were in tribute to the inductees. For instance, Diana Ross sang two of Billie Holiday's songs. But other performers just seemed to be celebrating the legacy of the Apollo Theatre in general. 

When it comes to bootleg recordings, this concert is best known for the last few songs, led by blues guitarist B. B. King. First, he did a duet with guitarist Eric Clapton on the song "Rock Me Baby." Then he brought on guitarists Jeff Beck, Albert Collins, and Buddy Guy as well. The five of them all played solos on the same song, "Sweet Little Angel." After that, they were joined by everyone else from earlier in the show for the finale "Let the Good Times Roll." That probably was the only time those five guitar legends all played on stage together.

But the rest of the show has a lot going for it. Many soul legends from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s played. Some of them were getting up there in age and this would be their last time on a national TV, a kind of last hurrah.

This album is 54 minutes long. The TV special was two hours long. Even if you figure in time for commercials, there are songs I've missed. I found about half of this from a high quality bootleg, and the other half from YouTube videos. But, in my opinion, the sound quality is about the same from the two sources.

By the way, note that the shows two hosts were the actors Danny Glover and Bill Cosby. Since then, Cosby has been hit by sex scandal and has been imprisoned. It's strange for me to hear him host this show in light of what's happened to him. I've tried to minimize his comments between songs, but I kept the bare minimum in for things to be understood.

01 talk (Smokey Robinson)
02 This Little Light of Mine (Smokey Robinson & the Dixie Hummingbirds)
03 talk (Smokey Robinson)
04 Little Girl of Mine (Smokey Robinson & the Cleftones)
05 talk (Smokey Robinson)
06 Good Times (Bryan Adams & Smokey Robinson)
07 talk (Chuck Jackson)
08 Any Day Now (Chuck Jackson)
09 talk (Ben E. King)
10 Save the Last Dance (Ben E. King)
11 talk (Al Green)
12 Let's Stay Together (Al Green)
13 talk (Teddy Pendergrass)
14 Close the Door (Teddy Pendergrass)
15 Stand by Me (Ben E. King, Chuck Jackson, Al Green & Teddy Pendergrass)
16 Still Crazy After All These Years (Ray Charles)
17 talk (Diana Ross)
18 God Bless the Child (Diana Ross)
19 Fine and Mellow (Diana Ross)
20 talk (B. B. King)
21 Rock Me Baby (B. B. King & Eric Clapton)
22 talk (B. B. King)
23 Sweet Little Angel (B. B. King, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Albert Collins & Buddy Guy)
24 talk (B. B. King)
25 Let the Good Times Roll (B. B. King & Everyone)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16701193/VA-ApolloHallFmeAplloThetreNYC__7-15-1993_atse.zip.html

For the cover, I found a photo of all five guitarists that played together near the end of the show. From left to right, it's Jeff Beck, Albert Collins, B. B. King, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy. It looks like the photo was taken backstage before or after the show. It's rather blurry, so if you know of a better version, or a better one, please let me know.