Episode 048 - Joe Bonamassa Concert Review

This week's episode features an in-depth review of modern Blues master Joe Bonamassa's live performance at the Beacon Theater in NYC. Alex recounts his experience celebrating his birthday with an incredible concert, sharing highlights and insights, along with some dynamite clips from the show, that will make the show come alive for you. Tune in to hear about Joe's journey from his early days with Bloodline to his impressive solo career, and why he's one of the best live performers playing out these days. Also, remember to check out our Spotify playlist featuring all the songs from Joe's setlist. Join us for another celebration of live music, this week on The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!

00:00 Introduction

01:40 The Early Days: Bloodline and Beyond

04:06 Joe's Solo Career and Collaborations

05:52 Concert Night: The Beacon Theater Experience

07:43 Setlist Highlights and Guest Appearances

15:36 Encore and Final Thoughts

17:09 Review Summary and Takeaways

21:28 The Wrap-Up

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Transcript

Alex Gadd: 0:00

Welcome to the Rock-N-Roll Show podcast. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and this week I've got another concert review for you. For my birthday, I went to see modern day Blues master Joe Bonamassa at the Beacon Theater in New York City. That's one of my favorite venues, and this is a first for the podcast as I have reviewed a previous show of Joe's last year that was episode 23, and that show is excellent. So I was looking forward to another night of uplifting blues music. I understand that's a contradiction in terms, but I hope you'll join me for my second Joe Bonamassa concert review this week on the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast coming up right now I saw Joe Bonamassa for my first time last summer in Westchester at the fabulous Capitol Theater, and I was knocked out by how good he is. He's not a household name by any means because he doesn't release albums on a major record label or release singles yet to music fans, and particularly to fans of the Blues, he's one of the preeminent guitarists playing out today. He releases his music through his own company, J R Adventures, which serves not only as his record label, but also as his music management and promotion company. Basically, Joe's figured out how to make the music he wants to make, tour when, where, and how he wants, and he does his part to help keep the blues alive. For those of you who didn't catch my previous review, let me quickly revisit his background and how I got clued into him. I first became aware of Joe in 1994 when I stumbled across an album by a new band called Bloodline. The band's name was a nod to the fact that four of the six original members of the band were Sons of Music icons, bassist Berry Oakley Jr. Is the son of Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley. Guitarist Waylon Krieger is the son of Do's guitarist, Robbie Krieger drummer. Erin Davis is the son of jazz legend Miles Davis, and the original lead singer of Bloodline was Aaron Hagar, who's Sammy's kid. Now. Aaron didn't make it to the point where the album was recorded before parting ways with the band, but at that point, Berry Oakley Jr. took over the singing Their one album was a straight ahead bluesy Rock album, which in 1994 was definitely not what was happening in the popular music. I. A lot of the songs were amazing and had incredible solos. Many played at a frenetic pace. I really liked the album right away and tried to find out more about the band. The lead guitarist was credited as Smokin' Joe Bonamassa, and it became apparent that he was just a kid. Remember, public access to the internet had just started that year, and search engines were very, very rudimentary. But even more, there just wasn't a ton of information out on the web yet because it was brand new and businesses especially record labels, hadn't figured out yet how to use the web to their advantage. There was no YouTube, no Spotify, no iTunes music store, nothing like that yet. So finding out more about this band was challenging. After reading the few articles I could find, I learned that Smokin' Joe wasn't even 18 years old yet while he was recording this record, the other guys were all in their early twenties already, and that he had played with many of the blues greats starting as young as age 11. He even opened dates for BB King at the age of 12. BB King was kind of his mentor, and so began my fascination with Joe Bonamassa. While Bloodline was a short-lived thing, despite a great set of songs, it was a strong introduction to Joe's playing. Take a listen to the opening track on their first and only album right from the start, he's tearing it up After the band didn't make it past their debut album, Joe went on to form his own band and released his own first album in the year 2000. The first album was pretty rocking, but based on the blues, kind of reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan's sound. Joe's singing voice was soulful and bluesy, a perfect match for his playing. He's gone on to release 15 more solo records. Three albums with the vocalist Beth Hart. 20 live albums as well as three albums with his side project, Rock Candy Funk Party, and another five studio albums and one live album with his hard rock band, Black Country Communion. that band is a collaboration with Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, Derek Sherinian, who played with Alice Cooper in Dream Theater, and Jason Bonham, who's the Son of Zeppelin drummer John, and a former member of Steel Dragon, if you know, you know, his own band. And Sammy Hagar's band, the Circle. 27 studio albums in all since the year 2000 plus, constant touring and as if that wasn't all enough. He's one of the leading guitar collectors in the world with his Welcome to Nerdville videos out on YouTube, and he shares some of his incredible collection of vintage guitars and amps. So take a look. Here's Joe Bonamassa.

Alex Gadd (2): 5:52

When I did the review of his show last summer, I mentioned at the end that he was playing on my birthday in early 2025 at the Beacon Theater, and I was planning on going, so it was that I met up with my college buddy, Rod and my old pal, Dave Schultz, for a birthday pregame at a great Tex-Mex restaurant right across the street from the Beacon and you can meet them and learn more about them. In episodes eight and 28 respectively. Dave brought along some of his friends with whom he was going to the show that night at Lisa. George and Alex were all great company and were very kind to celebrate my birthday with me. Then we headed across the street right before showtime and got to our seats just as the lights came up and the band tore into their first number, which was the same as the last show, a great version of"Hope You Realize It" from his most recent album, Blues Deluxe Volume Two. The first difference that I noticed was that he had no horn section for this show. The trumpet and two sax players were gone. It was just his core band, which included a second guitar player, bass, drums, keyboards, and two backup singers, as opposed to the three that he had last year. The only real complaint I had about last year's show at the Cap was that it was just too loud, which is not a common complaint for me because I love loud music. But I mentioned at the time that it felt like the sound was set up to project into a larger venue like the Beacon Theater, and in the Cap, it was just oppressive. Well, as I've said here before, the Beacon has just about as good a sound system as I've ever come across anywhere, and the sound was still very, very loud for what the music was. I've since found out that that's just the way that Joe Bonamassa plays. He plays loud and at the Beacon it was much more tolerable. You could definitely hear the separation of all the instruments, especially the backup vocalists better than last year's show. And so that was a win. I still brought my Eargasm, high fidelity earplugs with me, but I didn't need'em for this show. Getting back to the music itself, after the first song being a repeat from last summer, the second song was a killer take on Joe's own song, Dust Bowl, the title track from his 2011 record. It's a good slow burn blues song. And for those of you watching the show on YouTube, you'll have to forgive the video for the hand dancer, three rows and ahead of me. She was with two guys who proceeded to get pretty drunk and rowdy, but she kept herself to random hand dancing. I was grateful I didn't need to stand up every time I wanted to capture something for this show. Anyway, take a listen to Dust Bowl. After Dust Bowl came two more repeats from the 2024 show. Two more covers from the Blues Deluxe Volume Two album, and then he rolled out another original"Driving Towards the Daylight," which was the title Track two, his 2012 album. This was another slower song that had a dramatic build throughout. The band was really sounding good. Here's a bit of that one. The next song was a repeat from the Cap Show."I Wanna Shout About It," which is a good one. Fun upbeat cover from the Blues Deluxe Volume Two album. Then he played another original that wasn't played last year. A very slow, intense blues called The Last Matador of Bayone, which was okay, though, not my favorite. That was followed by a guest. Joe brought out Israeli guitarist, Oz Noy, saying that he had guested with Oz, Will Lee and Steve Ferrone at the Bitter End back in 2023, and it was time to repay the favor. Oz is a New York fixture since at least the mid nineties, and I had never seen him play live though. I did see a video of that show at the Bitter End where Joe was singing and playing Crossroads, which is pretty damn good. So Oz came out for the Freddie King cover,"Pack It Up," which was really good. Joe took a solo, then Oz took the next one. It wasn't incendiary or super impressive playing, but you could tell they were having fun playing the song together, and the energy in the room took a lift up. Here's a bit of that one. Oz is between Joe and Keyboardist, Reese Winans. Take a look. Joe is an extremely personable guy, from everything I've seen of him. He's done tons of interviews, internet videos, and guitar lessons online. He's smart, charming, folksy. He told a story about how when he last played at the Beacon back in 2019, he thought he should buy an apartment in the city since he was playing the Beacon every year or so and wanted to be able to walk to work at least once or twice during his tour. Then Covid hit, and it was only this past Thursday night that he finally got to realize his goal and walk to work. The crowd loved that story and went bananas when he told it. He's just a charming dude and a good storyteller on top of his exceptional chops. Going back to the music after Pack It Up, Oz left the stage and Joe played an original called The Heart that Never Waits from his 2021 album Time Clocks, which is a great showcase for his backup singers, Jade McCray and Danielle DeAndra, who looked amazing in their red sequin tops and sounded amazing as well. Take a listen.

13:33

The.

Alex Gadd (2): 14:10

He followed that with another slow blues. Is It Safe To Go Home? Which was, as it turns out, written by his second guitarist, Josh Smith, and it was recorded for the Blues Deluxe Volume Two album. It was the last song on that record. He finished the main set with two songs, a cover of Bobby Parker's. It's Hard, But It's Fair, which he had done as his encore last year. Then the last song of the main set was a cover of Led Zeppelin's, How Many More Times, which was the last track on Zeppelin's self-titled first album from 1969. Joe nailed this one. It was really good. The Encore was an oldie for Joe. His first breakthrough hit, a cover of the song called Sloe Gin that was written by super producer Bob Ezrin. You know him from Pink Floyd's The Wall, or Kisses Destroyer and co-written by composer Michael Kamen. It was originally recorded by Tim Curry back in the late seventies. Yeah, that Tim Curry, Dr. Franken Ferer from Rocky Horror Wadsworth, the butler from Clue that Tim Curry. Joe introduced the song by remembering that after he had released a number of albums in the early two thousands to little or no acclaim, when he released his recording of Sloe Gin in 2007 on his album of the same name, that was the album that got some attention for him going to number one on the US Blues album chart. It's a powerful performance. Take a look. And after Sloe Gin, it was over. We had about two hours and 15 minutes of great music and musicianship. I said goodbye to my friends, old and new, and headed home so here are my takeaways. I. One, Joe played 13 songs in just over two hours. He averaged about 10 minutes per song. Last show, the average was just under 10 minutes per song, so he was right on target for him. If you go to see Smokin' Joe, just be aware you're in for a lot of virtuoso playing. Also, get ready to love it. Number two, even without his three horn players, his backing band was amazing. The drummer Lamar Carter was a standout. As was his keyboard player, Rock-N-Roll Hall of Famer, Reese Winans, who had played with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble. I mentioned the two backup singers, Danielle and Jade, they were at the top of their game in this show. He had his rhythm guitarist, Josh Smith with him and Calvin Turner on bass. It was just a great band, and he made sure the audience appreciated every one of them. He was very generous with his recognition, which is what I've come to expect from him. Number three, as I noted last year, he's still playing a lot of the covers from his last studio record, but he has so many good original songs and I would've loved to have heard a few more of those. A couple of my favorites are Love Ain't a Love Song, and I Got All You Need. I hope the next time I see him, it's an all new set list, given how many songs he's recorded. Again, I'm talking 16 solo studio albums alone, but it's not a complaint, just a request. Number four, thanks to the larger venue in the Beacon Sound System. The sound was loud but perfect. You could hear every instrument and the background vocals came through really clearly. He did get a little carried away with breaking down multiple songs to where it was just him noodling as quietly as he could while the drums kind of kept time. He did it during solos of at least four songs, maybe even five. It was cool the first few times and it got a lot of crowd reaction because you could hear the pickups on his guitar humming between the notes as he was playing. It was so quiet otherwise. Maybe a few fewer times that the next show is all I'm asking. Number five, the crowd was really into the show and into Joe himself he should continue to play at the Beacon every year from now on. That used to be a thing the Allman Brothers did. Steely Dan used to do that. It's time for Joe Bonamassa to make a Beacon Theater show his residency and the crowd was a better mix of ages than at last summer's Westchester, New York show. Funny story, we saw two people being carried out as we were in line to get into the show. They were tripping so hard that the man couldn't stand up at all and his wife was totally out of it. Also, the reason I'm sharing this story is that those drugged out people were in their late sixties or early seventies and it was their son. Who was trying to help get them straightened down and get them outside so the EMTs could look at them. The poor man collapsed right in front of me and Rod, so we caught him and helped get him over to the paramedics. And this is all before the show, but it was a show for all ages. And then I had the hand dancer and her rambunctious partner sitting in front of us, couple of middle aged women sitting behind us talking at full volume to one another. So the crowd was a little less sophisticated than I would expect from a New York City Joe Bonamassa crowd. None of that took away from the enjoyment we got from being there. It's just a part of the larger trend that I've been noticing since after the pandemic. People are just too comfortable treating every place like it's their living room. We can do better. In fact, we have to do better. Right. Six. Joe played some beautiful guitars for this show from a Gibson SG to one or two Les Pauls to a 3 35, and he played two Telecasters and he sounded just like himself playing all those guitars. He was awesome. Finally, number seven, Joe's a serious road dog, and he's on tour for most of this year. He's so good. I hope you get out and check him out when he comes to your town. He's in the Southeast for the rest of March, then going over to the UK in April, before heading to the continent at the end of April into May. Then he is touring with his rock band, Black Country Communion in Europe through June, more solo dates in Europe in July before coming back to the States for his summer tour, which starts out west. And that doesn't include his, not one, but two, Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea cruises one is at the end of this month, and then there's another one in mid-September. There are no more New York area dates announced as of yet, but there's still fall and winter to come. So let's see. Keeping my fingers crossed, but do yourself a favor and go see one of the best bluesmen and pure entertainers around Joe Bonamassa. Well, that's it for this week's episode. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday, and if you like what you heard today, we'd appreciate it if you would like and subscribe or follow to make sure you get notified about every new episode. And please tell your friends. Also a reminder that we release a playlist for every episode. So look for the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast Playlist on Spotify every week this week, featuring the songs from Joe's set list from last Thursday night. So check that out. Additionally, we want to know what you think, so please leave us a comment. We'll try to respond to every one of them. We do love hearing from you. The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and until next time, remember that life is short, so get those concert tickets.