After successful Damn Right tour in 2024, blues legend Buddy Guy announced an extended tour with new dates and cities, aptly title Damn Right Encore. Fans in Buffalo were lucky enough to be the first stop on this extension, as Seneca Niagara Casino welcomed the 88-year-old on June 6th.
After nearly seven decades of touring, Guy has been taking the leap towards a version of retirement with his farewell tour, launched in 2023 and postponed into 2024, now extended in 2025. Is this the end of touring for the “Cheaper To Keep Her” icon or just a brake check as he approaches the 90s? We won’t know for sure for a bit, but we do know that Buddy Guy is a living legend, who loves being on stage and telling stories.
At Seneca Niagara, with every passing minute leading up to the eight o’clock start time, fans flooded to their seats donning both new and old Buddy Guy swag, fedoras, or even some disco ball-esq sparkly suits. Drip, swag, threads, however you want to look at it, fans were dressed to impress as Buddy finally walked on stage at about 8:10, with his famed polka dotted Fender.
With no designated photo pit, I meandered in the middle third of stage front, watching as guitarist Ric Jaz along with Guy took turn seemingly showboating their skills. At one point during “Damn Right I Got The Blues” Guy got his guitar into a tune, hands out to the side and hip thrusted in unison to the beat of the drums. An un-official trademark, for sure.
Between songs and banter with fans, there is always story time from Guy, which act as segways to next song. One of the first ones, he mentioned to the crowd that he was asked who he thought was the greatest guitar player to ever pick up a guitar. Being the humble talent he is, he shrugged off those who were screaming his name. You could hear names being called out such as Hendrix, Clapton, and Vaughn. Giving credit where credit is due, Buddy proclaims “This is best guitarist to ever play” as he began to play BB King’s “The Thrill is Gone”…