My awesome wife (BoK) bought us tix earlier this year for my birthday. I always liked what I'd seen and heard of Joe Bonamassa on the net but I had no idea just what kind of live show he puts on. I was excited to see him, but let's just say the show blew me away, and my expectations were pretty high to begin with. I remained amazed through the entire show.

I was unfamiliar with most of the songs in his set but I do not exaggerate when I say that I thoroughly enjoyed every note of every song. He came across as a funny and down to earth guy too as when he related a story of playing in Wilkes-Barre at the age of 13 at a place called The Station. His band was tight and very professional, but there was no doubt that he is the focal point. I found him to be technically brilliant and his playing was also filled with soul and emotion. He did an acoustic medley that still has me scratching my head as to how anyone can play like that. His singing was excellent as well and you could tell he really loves what he is doing up there. The crowd was energetic and way into the show which was cool. He closed the show with some Zeppelin licks that killed. He played for just over 2 hours straight with no intermission.

I had a feeling that it was going to be something special, especially after reading some of our other forumites' esteem for the man. I want to just say, Ceri, you are right on regarding this guy. I haven't been able to wipe the smile off my face all day. BoK loved the show too. If you're into great guitar playing and hard blues driven rock, you really need to do yourself a favor and catch one of Mr. Bonamassa's shows. Bring high expectations and I bet he'll blow them away.

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Blown away huh? It's a fun way to be:



Ah, Woke Up Dreaming. When I saw him a few weeks ago he'd added some slippery new licks to that one which were very cool! It's never sounded better, to my taste. I've heard him in interviews say the basic riff is really very simple. Yeah, right!

Great to hear you enjoyed it. Good band as well, huh? Got any pics to share?

Greetings to Bride of Kong, by the way!

Cheers - C

YES YES YES. Going to see him for the first time live in about 3 weeks. Could not be more excited!

...Well, actually not the FIRST time. I saw him at Crossroads this year, but that was a desperately short set! Can't wait !

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08 American Standard Strat Olympic White/Maple
Squier Affinity Strat Blue/Rosewood
Epiphone Riviera-Cherry Red
65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue-Electric Blue
Vibro Champ XD
... and others

Hi Ceri!

I was also blown away by his talent as well. I was sitting center stage and had an amazing view for the entire show. He was an amazing performer as well as a phenomenal musician. I had NO idea he was an East Coast guy too. Apparently he plays Wilkes-Barre annually, so we'll probably be returning for another dose of awesomeness. So that will give us another opportunity to take pics...we left both cell phones in the hotel room, and left home in such a rush that we didn't take the camera with us.

BoK

I have never seen Joe except on the Royal Albert Hall DVD. That is a great show but I sure would like to see him live......

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I Can't Explain

I'll be seeing Smoking Joe this Saturday night in Durham, NC...2ND ROW CENTER! I've been counting down the minutes since I got the tickets. I saw him for the first time in March out in Riverside, Cali and like you my expectations were high but he totally blew me away and far exceeded expectations.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Look's like you guy's had a great night, centre front them's the tickets BoK, had a huge PA right in front of my wife and myself and only half the stage in veiw kinda spoilt it a bit, he leathered his way right through the set non stop though eh, the acoustic break and his guest (girlfriend) Sandy Thom were nice little breathers though, next time centre front for us, just have to get in quicker.

To clarify for BoK - we were orchestra center, but about 20 rows back. The Kirby Center was a nice venue, very intimate. What tone that guy had, amazing rig and loved all the axes.

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a few rows back even better Kong, yeah his Gibby Explorer souded mighty good to me, real nice tone.

thats why I am most excited to be 2nd row, so I can hear the tone coming out of the rig rather than the PA. Last show I was 16th row and it was great from there though

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Guy sucks. "WHAT?" jk love Joe.

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!

Man...I can't wait for an opportunity to see Bonamassa live. That dude is by far my favorite musician out right now and next time he makes his way within a couple hundred miles of the bay area you can be assured I'll be at that show!

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Check out my new FB music page!

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He is a blues playing freak!!!