Pete Townshend will join a star-studded lineup of guitar greats at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival, which will take place at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas on September 26-27, 2026.
The festival will support Clapton’s Crossroads Centre Antigua, a drug treatment facility that was founded in 1998. This will be the seventh festival, and will celebrate the 28th anniversary of the opening of the recovery center.
Pete will perform for the first time at this years festival. His appearance there will make a nice bookend to Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert, the historic 1973 show at London's Rainbow Theatre that Pete organized to help Clapton overcome heroin and return to the stage after a period of reclusive drug addiction. That show also marked the debut of Clapton's famous "Blackie" Stratocaster guitar, which is what the modified Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster that Pete uses regularly on tour is directly based on.
The event will feature main stage concerts and multi-artist collaborations by some of the best guitarists in the world from across multiple musical genres. Also on the bill will be Taj Mahal, Billy Gibbons, Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, Gary Clark Jr., Sonny Landreth, John Mayer, Del McCoury Band, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Jimmie Vaughan, Trey Anastasio, Tommy Emmanuel, Julian Lage, Ben Haggard, Keb’ Mo’, Robert Randolph, John McLaughlin, and many others.
Eric Clapton is slated to perform both nights. No word on which night Pete Townshend or any of the other acts will perform.
Tickets for the festival are on sale now. For more information, please visit crossroadsguitarfestival.com.
Pete playing his modified Eric Clapton Signature Strat at the Sunrise, Florida show in 2025. Photo credit: Horace Austin
Pete Townshend joins Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Ric Grech at the 1973 Rainbow Concert in London.
