Legendary guitarist and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee JEFF BECK is heading out on a UK tour this and next month, which includes two special dates at the London Royal Albert Hall.
Fortunately for us here in South Wales, the Grammy Award-winning guitarist’s tour will begin in Cardiff on 27th May at St David’s Hall, going on to call at Sheffield, London for two evenings at the Royal Albert Hall, Gateshead, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, and York.
Having cultivated one of the most influential careers in rock history, Jeff Beck is universally acknowledged as one of the most talented and significant guitarists in the world, and has played alongside some of the greatest artists of rock, blues and jazz.
Over the course of his distinguished 50+ music career, he has earned an incredible eight Grammy Awards, been ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” and been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice – once as a member of the Yardbirds and again as a solo artist. In the summer of 2016, the guitar virtuoso celebrated his 5 decades of music with an extraordinary concert at the famous Hollywood Bowl.
Jeff famously replaced Eric Clapton as the Yardbirds’ lead guitarist in 1965 and later went on to form The Jeff Beck Group, which featured Rod Stewart on vocals and Ron Wood on bass. Their two albums – Truth (1968) and Beck-Ola (1969) – would become musical touchstones for hard rockers in the years to come.
The constantly evolving Beck’s next move – a power trio with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice, which released Beck, Bogert and Appice (1973), once again shattered people’s preconceptions of what a rock guitarist was supposed to sound like.
1985’s Flash kept Beck in the spotlight as he earned the Best Rock Instrumental Grammy for the song “Escape.” A second Grammy came with Jeff Beck’s Guitar Shop with Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas,and a third for “Dirty Mind” from the You Had It Coming album in 2001. 2009 saw the release of the platinum-selling Performing This Week… Live at Ronnie Scott’s, which earned a Grammy for “A Day In The Life”.
Jeff’s astonishing 2010 solo album, Emotion & Commotion, brought about two additional Grammy Awards; Beck was nominated in 5 categories before bringing home three: Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Hammerhead” and Best Pop Instrumental performance for “Nessun Dorma”, both from Emotion & Commotion, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for “Imagine,” his collaboration with Herbie Hancock.
Talking of great collaborations, and for no other reason than it is an absolute cracking song, here’s Jeff and JOHNNY DEPP with a fantastic live performance. Listen here – ISOLATION.
His Rock ‘N’ Roll Party Honoring Les Paul album was nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Rock Album. In 2016 he released Loud Hailer and in 2017 Jeff Beck: Live At The Hollywood Bowl was released, both to widespread critical acclaim.
Jeff actually record most of Loud Hailer at home, an album packed with topical lyrics that touch upon his concerns about the future. Loud hailer – another name for a megaphone – is the perfect symbol for the 11 tracks.
“I really wanted to make a statement about some of the nasty things I see going on in the world – greed, lies, injustice – and I loved the idea of being at a rally and using this loud device to shout my point of view.”
To help him write the album, Jeff enlisted two young women, guitarist Carmen Vandenberg and singer Rosie Bones. It was a chance meeting with Vandenberg at a birthday party for Queen drummer Roger Taylor that eventually led to the trio’s collaboration.
“She invited me to one of their shows, and I was blown away. When we got together in January, I explained the subject matter I had in mind, we sat down by the fire with a crate of Prosecco and got right to it. The songs came together very quickly; five in three days.”
JEFF BECK gets to St David’s Hall in Cardiff on Friday 27th May, the rest of the UK tour dates are below. He’ll be joined on the tour by special guest, the Grammy Award Nominee and BRIT Award winning singer-songwriter SHARON CORR of The Corrs. Tickets are available HERE
UK Tour Dates:
Friday 27th May Cardiff St David’s Hall
Sunday 29th May Sheffield City Hall
Monday 30th May London Royal Albert Hall
Tuesday 31st May London Royal Albert Hall
Thursday 2nd June Gateshead: The Sage
Friday 3rd June Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Saturday 4th June Manchester O2 Apollo
Monday 6th June Birmingham Symphony Hall
Tuesday 7th June York Barbican Centre
