The word legendary is massively overused when describing rock stars and musicians. However there can be no doubt in the impact that B.B King has had on contemporary music. In fact I go as far as saying that without the likes of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and B.B King the second half of the 20th century would have sounded very differently.
At 83 B.B King is the only surviving member of the original blues gang however although being extremely frail still played with the same vigour and passion as he did decades ago. I was invited by Gibson Guitars to cover the show and take photos of B.B King with his famous ES 355 called Lucille. Story has it he ran into a burning building to rescue one of his guitars after a fight broke out between two members of the audience. Both men died in the fire which started over a woman called Lucille and since then every one of his Gibson 355’s has been names Lucille to remind him never to fight over women or run into buring buildings! 
Although I was only allowed to cover the first thirty minutes or so of the show what I heard blew me away. The sheer technical ability of each of his band members was totally breathtaking, and I guess most of them were in their sixties! The music that I heard was a mixture of older songs and instrumental numbers. The gig started with a 15 minutes intrumental number followed by one of his better known songs “The Thrill is Gone” which was utterly submlime. I don’t know how much longer B.B King will be performing for however everyone should try and see him perform at least once – Highly recomended.
Written by John Rahim
