Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa's claim to fame is his virtuosic ability to deliver face-melting blues rock in an age where the charts are dominated by pop. And that ability seamlessly translates well into his live performance. The subdued lighting of the venue was the perfect complement to the music; you've got your "bluesy lights" on as Bonamassa comes out and immediately launches into the beautiful, soaring epic ballad "Mountain Time." As the night progressed, you were treated to an absolute master's guitar clinic. Bonamassa was seemingly capable in flawlessly executing every guitar technique in the book. You've got your blistering technical solos, twangy slide guitar, crunching riffs, extensive jams with the band, lush acoustic numbers, and on and on.

Fans of Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton will especially find lots to love at a Joe Bonamassa concert. Bonamassa channels the in-your-face hard rock crunch of the former while displaying the raw blues sensibilities of the latter. The setlists are crafted expertly, to make sure you're constantly alternating between rocking out and being moved by a melancholy number. Two highlights for me were a faithful rendition of Zeppelin's heart-wrenching rocker "Tea for One" and the moody, cascading blues of "Sloe Gin." It was truly a refreshing experience to see that blues-rock is not a dead art form, and that Joe Bonamassa is capable of keeping live guitar-driven rock relevant.

Chicago was about the 7th Bonamassa concert we've seen (Lexington Ky, Louisville Ky, Indianapolis, St. Louis, twice on board the Bonamassa Blues at Sea Cruise, and now Chicago. Each time, there is new material and, as a musician, new approaches in Joe's playing. His skills continue to grow - and the pace of improvement (event at his always incredible level) seems to pick up. His quieter moments in particular took the what I call "accidental notes and sounds" (the kinds of sounds, note and approaches any decent player has accidentally discovered noodling on the guitar but never dreamed of doing anything with) and built them into textures, melodies and themes that were enthralling -- at least until whoever was drunkest yelled something -- and in one case, a woman who screamed into the silent, hushed auditorium "he's making me hot". Just remarkable. The effort, commitment, skill, sense of play and exploration, and of course absolute mastery of his instrument. Looking for the next alternative to hear him again. This show featured the 5 piece band plus horn section -- tastefully used. Of particular note was the smoky, jazz-flavored trumpet solo.
Don't miss Joe when you can go.

I've seen Joe about five times now and this was well below his usual standard.
He played very few of his older numbers and left most of the audience bewildered and very disappointed. he seemed to be promoting his new album that isn't even coming out until September this year. By then most of us will have forgotten what it sounds like. However, it seems Joe is leaving his Blues music behind and going more rock. This, for me, is a no no!! if this is the road he is going down then I wont be buying his albums in the future and will certainly not spend the money going to see him. The couple sat next to us early as they were so disappointed.
To summarise: very disappointing concert. No one was singing along as on one knew the songs he was playing.

Kiel 10-03-2016
Amazing concert. First time I saw JB and band live and what a night. So tight, accurate and totally professional. One of my best concert experiences ever. And it will definitely not be my last JB-concert :-)
Drove three hours from Denmark and it was totally worth it!
One little thing though. The sound level was perfect during the first song but after that they turned it up and it got a bit to high the rest of the evening - in my opinion. But not at all ruining it!
And I am curious about one thing. Why all the cover songs? JB has such a great catalog of songs of his own. I think it will define JB much better as an artist if he kept to his own songs.
Se you again - hopefully soon :-)
Kind Regards
Kenneth Poulsen

Wonderful time last night ! All hard working people That were there to entertain the people that spent hard earned money to be there , they all , the band that is , knew this and showed their appreciation by putting on a splendid display of their god given talent , they proved to everyone there last night that they honed this talent . At the end of the show Mr Bonamassa took time at his bus , took selfies and chatted with a handful of fans , we spoke with other band members and found them all down to earth and very approachable. I first had the privilege 15-17 yrs ago of seeing Joe in Santa Cruz , Calif. last night it had been 7 times at his concerts 6 times here in Scotland , I will be seeing him again and again !

What is there to say about this guy? In truth there are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe him. So I'll try & sumarise; A genius musician who must have music running through his veins for blood. Yes he must have some natural talent of course, but by God he's worked damn hard to get where he has in terms of a Guitar Maestro & don't forget that voice, wow that voice! But he lives for music which might explain it? The 2 Nights at the Royal Albert Hall were immense. Joe was on fire & so were the rest of the Band. They are a well oiled machine that, when moving, it's effortless but with so much emotion to move many to tears. 2 Hours 15 minutes of pure magic & musical mastery!

An OK show, but not worth the 2.5hr hassle of getting there and back (or the £100/ticket)! Only played two of the numbers I knew, the rest was new stuff. Why do these people assume we want new stuff? We don't, we want to hear live the songs we've become fond of over the years. Excellent musicians when playing together, but too much 'look what I can do' solos, which actually weren't that great. Love Blues of Desperation album and know it intimately, was hoping to hear more of it live. Sorry, won't be rushing to book tickets next time as I did this.

Absolutely the best show and time I've ever seen/had. He was AMAZING. Open up with This tRain and pounded us not stop for 2 hours and ten minutes. My girlfriend was equally blow away. I've seen a LOT of live music, hell I'm a musician and I've PLAYED a lot of music, but this was over the top indescribably awesome. I saw Joe on the Blues Cruise and THAT was amazing but he was on the 13th deck in 60 mph winds and I was about 75 yards away. for this I was in a newly redesigned Altria Theatre and I was in the orchestra section. Blown away!

It could have been a bit louder is my only complaint. I saw Joe last November and he played 2 older songs last night that he didn't play then so I was pretty happy about that. We are seeing him again in April. I wish he played more of his own and older music. That's the Joe I fell in love with but I've only been listening to him for a few years! He's truly an amazing musician! Praying someday I will get to hear Mountain Time, Slow Gin, Ball Peen Hammer!

I've seen around 5 shows of Joe Bonamassa. All of them Joe arrived always on time.

The music selections are great. He chooses some slow blues through some blues rock ones which gives a very nice modulation.

Joe is an Audiophile, so expect to have a great sounding band! you can hear all the instruments perfectly.

His band, which change sometimes, is formed with great musicians, I mean really great! Joe´s live is a must to see performance!