I'M pretty sure that Joe Bonamassa has more important things to do than to phone me less than an hour before he is due on stage in Dublin for the second of three warm-up shows for his Salute to the British Blues Explosion.

But you also get the feeling that the man, who in the eyes of many music lovers is one of the greatest guitarists on the planet, always has to be doing something.

After all, this is someone who regularly performs around 150 live shows a year, has released 15 solo albums in the past 13 years and has been involved in numerous musical collaborations.

When we talked, Joe was scheduled to perform his new show celebrating the music of three of his heroes — Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck — in the spectacular grounds of Hoghton Tower as part of the Symphony at the Tower series of concerts.

But due to heavy downpours making the area waterlogged over the past few days, the show has now been moved indoors to Preston Guild Hall tonight.

Ironically, the subject of the weather came up during our conversation, with Joe being full of praise for the way British audiences' show great fortitude in adverse conditions.

"I find you guys are not affected by rain at all," he said. "It could be hailing or even have frogs coming from the sky and you will be like 'hey this is great' whereas Americans, we run man no matter how much we paid for a ticket. If it's raining, we're out of there."

Sadly, the weather has put paid to the open-air show but as far as Joe is concerned it doesn't matter where he is performing, the intensity levels remain the same.

"The shows take on a life of their own," he said. "That's particularly true for these British Blues Explosion shows as we're only just starting out with them."

Joe and his band spent a week's intensive rehearsals before playing to an invited audience at Liverpool's famous Cavern club on Monday night.

"We didn't realise how this thing was going to go over, he said, "so we started off small and did the Cavern and will be doing two nights in Dublin which will be 1,500 per night.

"We didn't know if this thing was going to be 'oh no, this didn't work' or 'wow we've got a big success on our hands'. But by all accounts we're doing pretty good here."

Given the Joe has only recently released his latest album, Blues of Desperation, the could have been forgiven for concentrating on live shows promoting it — but that's not his style.

"We've just did a couple of shows in the UK in spring and a bunch of shows Europe and bunch of shows in America with the new album," he said.

"This will be the third and possibly the last of the series of tribute shows we have done since 2014. We did a tribute to Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters and then did the Three Kings tour (showcasing blues greats Albert King, Freddie King and B B King) and now we're doing the British Blues Explosion.

"If it wasn't for certain British musicians of the early 1960s, the Blues may well have never exploded into rock music as we know it today and indeed, may have passed into history."

For the show Joe is taking songs associated with Clapton, Page and Beck but he is staying well away from the more obvious numbers.

"I put a big sign in the rehearsal hall which was this gigantic warehouse outside of Birmingham and it just said 'No Stairway' (referring to Led Zeppelin's classic number Stairway to Heaven). That was never going to happen."

"It boils down to whether can you make it your own," he said. "You don't just want to be a covers band and that's really critical for me, particularly with music that I have such a reverence for.

"What we've done is mashed up some of the songs and done some really interesting things with them so again they are not just cover versions because Clapton is still active, Jimmy Page is still active and Jeff Beck still active so this is a tribute to them and the influence they have had.

"These shows will be my interpretation of the music but the show is still evolving, there may well be more changes before Saturday night."

For tonight's show at Preston Guild Hall, Joe will be supported by rising British blues star Joanne Shaw Taylor. There will be a mixture of standing and unreserved seating. Doors will open at 6pm, with Joanne Shaw Taylor due on stage at 6.45pm and Joe Bonamassa at 8pm.

Tickets bought for Hoghton Tower will be valid for the rearranged venue but tickets will not be on sale on the night.