Buddy Guy at 90 Played Cream With a Drumstick

Six weeks after his 90th birthday, Buddy Guy walked into the garden boxes, then handed the Bowl to Kingfish Ingram, Joe Bonamassa and his son Greg.

Midway through his set at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, Buddy Guy laid his Stratocaster flat and played Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" by striking the neck with a drumstick. He had turned 90 on July 30, and the show was a stop on the Buddy Guy 90 tour.

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram opened with his Delta Jam. He played "Fresh Out," the song he recorded with Buddy, and brought out Joe Bonamassa for "Voodoo Charm."

Buddy's set ran about 75 minutes. He opened with "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues" and moved into "Hoochie Coochie Man," then worked through pieces of "I'm a King Bee," "Rock Me Baby," "How Blue Can You Get" and Bobby Rush's "Chicken Heads." During "Do Your Thing" he left the stage and played his way into the garden boxes. Between songs he talked about radio keeping the blues off the air for its raunchiness, and about the jukeboxes that shaped what blues players were expected to play.

He left the 2025 album Ain't Done with the Blues out of the set, though it had won him the Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album in February.

The finale brought his son Greg Guy, Kingfish and Bonamassa on stage with his guitarist Ric "Jaz" Hall for Muddy Waters' "Still a Fool" and "Cut You A-Loose." After about five minutes Buddy told the crowd, "Thank you so much. I love you, man," and walked off. The four other guitarists kept playing for roughly five minutes more.

Three weeks later, on October 1, he headlined Buddy's Got the Blues: A 90th Birthday Concert Celebration at Radio City Music Hall in New York.