Artur Menezes at Pave club in Sofia on November 28, 2026 - the guitarist who played Eric Clapton's Crossroads

Artur Menezes plays Sofia on November 28, 2026 at the Pave club. This is a guitarist who rarely appears in this part of Europe, and who has awards behind him that mean far more in blues circles than the small club he is playing would suggest.

Menezes was born on July 15, 1985 in Brazil, and since 2016 has lived and worked in Los Angeles. Since 2010 he has released six records, among them the 2018 album „Keep Pushing” and „Fading Away” from October 30, 2020 through VizzTone Label Group. Joe Bonamassa plays on the latter, produced by Josh Smith, who produced both albums. The most recent release, the EP „AM/FM”, came out in 2023 through Black Hill Records.

The recognition came quickly. In 2018 he won the Gibson/Albert King award for best guitarist from The Blues Foundation and finished third at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. The following year he performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads festival, after winning the main prize at a competition organised by Ernie Ball. Guitar Player Magazine listed him among the 25 best new blues guitarists in 2023, and in 2026 he is scheduled for Lollapalooza Brazil and tours across Europe and America.

The show starts at 8 pm, and tickets cost 29.34 leva through bilet.bg, roughly 924 denars. The Pave club has a small capacity, which means a performance a few metres from the audience, for under a thousand denars, by a guitarist who has played Clapton's stage.