Music lovers with a mad love for the blues file into New Brunswick’s State Theatre New Jersey this Saturday, August 8, 2026 evening for a Buddy Guy 90 tour performance by the 90-year-old blues legend Buddy Guy.
Guy is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who started out performing with bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters and ended up influencing such major rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. A winner of multiple Grammys in addition to a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Guy is included on Rolling Stone’s list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and is also a 2012 Kennedy Center Honors recipient.
Inside the historic STNJ auditorium, the lights dim as keyboardist David Souvigny, drummer Tom Hambridge, bassist Orlando Wright, and guitarist Ric Jaz take their places and the crowd hoots and hollers as Buddy Guy enters the stage.
Opening with “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues,” Guy bends his strings as he wails out a bluesy guitar solo and cries, “You damn right, I’ve got the blues/From my head down to my shoes,” on this rockin’ blues tune.
The crowd stands and cheers and Guy responds, “Thank you so much! You can sit down ’cause I ain’t as old as I look!” before announcing, “We’re gonna play something so funky you can smell it!” Here, he and the band launch into a down and dirty interpretation of Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man.”
Warning, “I’m gonna give you a blues so that you have it good for awhile!” Guy and the band segue into snippets of Johnnie Taylor’’s “Cheaper to Keep Her” and Ricky Allen’s “Cut You Loose” before settling into Freddie King’s “Love Her With a Feelin’” where Ric Jaz renders a rockin’ guitar solo prior to spinning his guitar in a 360° circle.
Guy cries, “While you were slippin’ out, someone else was slippin’ in,” on a bouncy rendition of Z.Z. Hill’s “Someone Else is Steppin’ In” before delivering a screaming guitar solo which is followed by an electrifying piano solo by David Souvigny.
Fans cheer and Guy announces, “I’m going to do one of my tunes that got me a Grammy.” On “Feels Like Rain,” Guy croons with feeling, “Love comes out of nowhere, baby/Just like a hurricane,” deftly popping into his falsetto voice before directing the audience to join him in singing the slow blues number’s memorable “And it feels like rain” lyric.
Announcing, “My friend, Bobby Rush, wrote a song and it goes like this,” Guy struts into the funky blues number, “Chicken Heads,” where he belts out, “Love that gal/Love them chicken heads, too!” before Ric Jaz incorporates a snippet of Jimmy Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” into his solo.
On Isaac Hayes’ slow and funky “Do Your Thing,” Guy cries, “If you feel like you wanna scream/‘Cause screaming’ is your thing/Then scream on!” and the crowd happily responds.
Then, on Willie Dixon’s “Talk to Me, Baby,” Guy soulfully chants, “You know I love you baby!” prior to making his way into the audience and strolling up and down the main aisles of the auditorium while picking out an extended guitar solo.
Returning to the stage, Guy sets his guitar on top of a large speaker and plays a snippet of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” by tapping on the strings with a drumstick. Taking the guitar off the speaker, he straps it on and positions a towel over the guitar’s neck which he slides back and forth over the guitar’s strings to play it.
Fans cheer and Guy steps into a bluesy rendition of John Lee Hooker’s “I’m in the Mood” before delivering a soulful guitar solo on Lightnin’ Hopkins’ slow blues, “Mojo Hand.”
Following a rockin’ rendition of Ray Charles’ “It’s All Right,” Guy talks about growing up on a farm in Louisiana and the crowd cheers when he asserts, “If you get to be 90 years old, you’re a lucky man!”
Guy invites his son, Greg, onto the stage to jam. After Greg solos on guitar, Buddy plays his guitar with his left hand only and then with his mouth before singing, “Well now there’s two/There’s two trains runnin’/Well ain’t not one/Goin’ my way,” on Muddy Waters’ “Still a Fool.”
Concluding tonight’s performance with a steamy rendition of Muddy Waters’ “Big Leg Woman,” the crowd stands and cheers and Guy responds, “Thank you very much!” as he tosses out guitar picks, blows kisses to fans, and exits the stage while his son, Greg, and the band continue to jam.
As concertgoers make their way out of the theater, several comment on tonight’s Buddy Guy 90 performance. Declares Marcella from Milltown, “Buddy was amazing! My dad loved the blues, so as Buddy was playing and singing his songs, I was thinking about my dad. It was amazing!”
Gwen from West Windsor exclaims, “I loved Buddy! His performance was excellent, and I especially loved it when his son joined him; it was beautiful!” Declares Gwen’s friend, Debra from Atlanta, “I loved seeing Buddy on my birthday! He was phenomenal; I can’t believe he’s 90!” Their mutual friend, Deborah from Plainsboro, insists, “I loved Buddy Guy! I loved his personality — he tells it like it is — and coming through the audience and playing with a towel was just crazy. He’s outrageous!”
Exclaims Lynn from High Bridge, NJ, “I love that man! He has such energy and he never disappoints. I especially liked when he did ‘Feels Like Rain’ and the audience sang along with him. Also, when he went up and down the aisles playing his guitar was wonderful, too.”
Notes Dylan, a drummer from Imlaystown, “I thought Buddy was really good! I was not only very impressed with his selection of tunes, but with his playing at 90. He was running the show — telling stories, making jokes, and talking to the crowd — and his band was excellent, too!”
Acknowledges Achintya, a guitarist from Princeton, “This was my first time seeing Buddy and he exceeded my expectations! I’d seen videos of Buddy playing with Clapton and all the great artists of the ‘60s, but to see him play live tonight — at 90 — showed me what a great influence he was on rock and roll.”
Joe from Marlboro maintains, “Buddy Guy is a living legend, and he put on a great show tonight!” His fiancée, Jennifer, concurs, explaining, “I’ve seen a lot of shows, but this is one of the best I’ve ever seen! Buddy is so funny and so engaging, and he has so much energy, I smiled the whole time!” Lastly, Joe’s daughter, Ava, insists, “This is my second time seeing Buddy Guy and he’s only gotten better,” before exclaiming, “I can’t wait to see him again when he’s 91!”
To learn more about Buddy Guy, please go to buddyguy.net. To find out more about great upcoming performances at STNJ — including The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band on October 2, Samara Joy on October 4, and The Temptations and The Four Tops on October 18 — please click on stnj.org.
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