Fresh out of the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp is back in the limelight for a memorial concert Monday night in honor of his late friend Jeff Beck.
Depp, 59, took the stage with heavyweights like Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood at London’s Royal Albert Hall to pay tribute to the guitarist who died at the age of 78 in January.
This Pirates of the Caribbean According to a video Stewart shared on Instagram, the actor wore a blue denim hat and played guitar on stage. In one clip, the “Maggie May” singer danced alongside Depp as she sang and slapped his back encouragingly.
“Last night is a great evening for our friend Jeff, so many lovely actors, friends and family. I can’t wait to do it all again tonight! 🕺 ”Stewart captioned the post.
Depp and Beck were close friends and had toured together and released a joint album. 18. The actor even said that he let Beck and his wife Sandra live with them for a few months before the tour started.
In January, a source told PEOPLE that Depp was among those who visited Beck at his bedside before his death.
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“They had a really close friendship, they were extremely close, and it became even closer when we toured together last summer,” the source said. “The illness started so quickly and things got worse quickly over the last few weeks… Johnny is still reviewing the news. He’s devastated.”
Depp recently appeared in Cannes, France, where his new French movie jeanne du barry premiered last week, nearly a year after the controversial defamation lawsuit with his ex-wife Amber Heard was closed.
Speaking at a press conference for the film on Wednesday, Depp said he felt “boycotted” and people misled by “fiction” after high-profile legal suits.
“Do I feel like I’ve been boycotted now?” he continued. “No, not at all. But I don’t think I’m boycotting Hollywood because I don’t think about it. I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t need Hollywood much.”
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He also touched on the idea of making a “comeback” following both the Heard trial and the 2020 defamation trial in London, telling reporters “I didn’t go anywhere”.
“I keep wondering about the word return because I didn’t go anywhere. Actually, I live about 45 minutes away. So yeah, maybe people stopped calling out whatever their fear was at the time. … But no, I didn’t go anywhere. I was sitting around.”
A source close to the actor told PEOPLE this week that Depp “performed brilliantly” a year after the lawsuit.
“She really enjoys working and traveling again. He managed to turn his life around,” the source said. “She prioritizes her health and work. He lived a destructive life, and people close to him were worried. Everyone is excited about how it turned things around. He is also much happier.”