Joe Perry and Ronnie Wood Added to Jeff Beck Tribute Lineup
Aerosmith's Joe Perry and the Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood have been announced as additional performers at the upcoming Jeff Beck tribute concerts scheduled for May 22 and 23 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
The concerts are being spearheaded by Beck's Yardbirds predecessor, Eric Clapton. Previously confirmed guests include former Jeff Beck Group singer Rod Stewart, Billy Gibbons, Derek Trucks, John McLaughlin, Joss Stone, Gary Clark Jr., Doyle Bramhall, Robert Randolph, Imelda May and Johnny Depp.
Beck died in January after contracting bacterial meningitis. He was 78.
The last time Wood, who is also a former member of the Jeff Beck Group, played with Beck was in 2018 when Wood was working on his Chuck Berry live tribute album. "He came down with Johnny Depp, Imelda May was singing," Wood recalled. "We played some bluesy jam. Onstage, he liked to take the foreground. He liked to be heard. I'm really gonna miss him."
"Jeff Beck was the Salvador Dali of guitar," Perry wrote on Instagram following the news of Beck's death. "To see him play was to hear the ultimate [six] string alchemist create magic in a world of its own. With his passing, the world is a poorer place."
Both of the upcoming London concerts are sold out. According to an earlier press release, surplus income from the shows will be donated to Folly Wildlife Rescue in Kent, U.K., a nod to Beck's dedicated environmental causes.