Billy Gibbons on performing with Kirk Hammett at 2020 Peter Green tribute concert: “We tore it up!”
A home video and album documenting the star-studded 2020 London concert that Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood organized and hosted celebrating his band’s original frontman, guitarist Peter Green, was released last month in multiple formats.
Among the many legendary musicians who took part on the show was ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons, who hit the stage multiple times during the event. Billy tells ABC Audio that his favorite highlight from the concert was getting to team up with Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett to perform the 1970 Fleetwood Mac tune “The Green Manalishi (with the Two Prong Crown),” the last song Green recorded with the band before leaving the group.
Gibbons says the “Green Manalishi” performance was extra special because Hammett played Green’s famous 1959 Sunburst Les Paul guitar, known as “Greeny,” at the show.
Billy notes that Kirk, who purchased “Greeny” in 2014, “doesn’t hang it on the wall behind glass. He gets out there and thrashes with it. So we got out there and tore it up.”
Green, who struggled with mental health issues for many years, didn’t attend the tribute show, which was held at the London Palladium in February of 2020. Sadly, Peter died on July 25 of last year at the age of 73.
Reflecting of Green’s music, Gibbons tells ABC Audio, “Very inspiring. He showed us that the blues remained alive and well. And when that guitar was in his hands, he just made sounds that wanted to lead you in a sense of mystery, and at the same time, it was everything we could do to play it over and over again. In fact, we’re still doing that.”
Mick Fleetwood & Friends Celebrate the Music of Peter Green and the Early Years of Fleetwood Mac is available now. Visit MickFleetwoodandFriends.com for more information.
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