Blues guitar legend B.B. King will perform a series of shows early next year that are being billed as “B.B.’s Farewell U.K. Tour.” For these five arena dates, King will be joined by renowned Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with Moore opening and quite possibly joining King at the end of the show.
King and Moore first crossed paths in the early ’90s, while Moore was working on a solo blues-based release. “I invited B.B. to play on a single, ‘Since I Met You Baby,’ from my ‘After Hours’ CD [1992],” Moore tells Billboard.com. “We recorded the track in the afternoon and went on to shoot the video that night, as B.B. was on a tight schedule. B.B. then came and guested on a live show that we filmed on the ‘After Hours’ tour, ‘Live Blues’ [1993].”
Moore, who is best known in the U.S. for his on-again, off-again affiliation with Thin Lizzy and his acclaimed 1990 release, “Still Got the Blues,” explained how the tour materialized. “B.B.’s U.K. promoter asked me and it seemed like a great honor, so I didn’t give it a second thought and jumped at the opportunity to play with BB again,” he says. “[King is] a warm and generous guy, a real gentleman with such a great presence, on and off stage.”
A live album or DVD of the forthcoming dates could materialize. “It’s a possibility, but no plans at this stage,” Moore says. “It would be a nice memento of what promises to be a great tour. I’m really looking forward to it.”
Moore also hinted that this double billing would probably be limited to Europe only. “Nothing planned [for King/Moore U.S. dates], as B.B. is on tour in the U.S. for the remainder of 2005 and I’m in the studio recording [a] new record at the same time,” he says. Moore’s forthcoming studio effort should be released around the same time as the European tour.
Here are B.B. King/Gary Moore U.K. tour dates:
March 29: Sheffield (Arena)
March 31: Manchester (MEN Arena)
April 1: Birmingham (NEC Arena)
April 2: Bournemouth (BIC Arena)
April 4: London (Wembley Arena)
