If you want to know what a legend B.B. King is, just look at how he holds court with other guitar heroes in this performance from Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010.
While King starts “The Thrill Is Gone,” a song he helped popularize, he then passes the torch to Clapton, Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughan. By the end, a whole hosts of artists emerge on stage.
Reviewing the concert for the New York Times, Jon Pareles wrote: “Mr. King was in a strange, long-winded mood, joshing while the band vamped and Mr. Clapton uncomfortably indulged him. But when he finally sang or played, he was still pithy and improvisatory.”
Upon King’s death, Clapton posted a video to Facebook, saying King was “a beacon for all of us who love this kind of music.” That much is very clear in the above video.
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