With a 6:30 doors and a 8pm (sharp) start time, it was no wonder why we weren't faced with a queue on our 7:30 arrival. There was no support act either despite lots of noise being made in the audience. As we were shown to our tightly packed, some may say cramped, row three from the front, with all the rest of press/photographers. The lights went down, the photographs raised their cameras, some in the dedicated spot, others disregarding these rules, and the band took to the stage as the Blues Titan himself Joe Bonamassa (9) strode to the front in his trademark 'uniform' of a formal blue suit and collar shirt, his first of many classic guitars (from his Nerdville collection) strapped around his shoulder.
Opening with Evil Mama from Redemption, we kicked off a set mainly drawn from the three most recent offerings, interspersed with some oldies. Joe was on fire both with his six string, shifting guitars again for the atmospheric Dust Bowl, backed by the behatted Josh Smith on six strings who fleshed out the big guitar sound with more than just rhythm playing, gaining a solo in Evil Mama and Lonely Boy. This is first time I've seen an additional guitarist on stage with Joe but it meant that track such as Love Ain't A Love Song were much more well rounded and dare I say heavier due to this addition. Love Ain't A Love Song saw Joe switch to the Stevie Ray Vaughan special, ideal for this scuttlebuttlin' tracks that brought back the momentum and led beautifully into Midnight Blue a cover and homage to one of the best to ever do it, Gary Moore (which obviously had a Gold Top Gibson).
From here things got more bluesy and explorative with The Heart That Never Waits and I Didn’t Think She Would Do It both having those drawn out solo sections that the fans in attendance had paid a lot of money to see, driven by the rhythm section of Steve Mackey (bass) and Greg Morrow (drums), both of whom have a high lists of artists they have work with, show their professionalism and experience by knowing every single little fill, dynamic change or shift, letting Bonamassa play, augmented by Smith and the veritable Reese Wynans on keys/organs as they all get to show off their leads.
When it was loud it was very loud but when it was quiet, like it was during acoustic blaster Woke Up Dreaming, you could hear a pin drop. The longest flight of fancy on the whole show is noted Joey Bones instrumental Django that was followed by deep cut Pain And Sorrow. With all of the playing members getting chance to show their mettle it was an anchor point to the show and led to the introductions and Joe extolling the virtues of Wagamama (get him a sponsorship). After the intros we had a return to the bluesy rock with A Conversation With Alice and Lonely Boy, the main set finishing with big hitter Ballad Of John Henry which moved from Zeppelin to Pink Floyd's Great Gig In The Sky, backing vocalist Jade Macrae getting a solo moment to shine having given the additional vocals along with Dani De Andrea all evening, for that soulful authenticity, fleshing out Joe's lead vocal.
All the of the band were incredibly tight and experienced, throughout the night an Bonamassa again proved why he's the top blues rock player in the world. Closing out the night with Sloe Gin, which gained the biggest applause of the night and got the crowd on their feet and singing along (the magic of Tim Curry, Bob Ezrin and Michael Kamen folks!) Always worth watching on stage as his songs tend to take on a life of their own when played live. Bonamassa is seen as the top of the pile when it comes to the modern day bluesmen and with this show he nailed that point home across an hour and a bit.
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