Joe Bonamassa
- Thread starter PaulyT
- Start date
Well, I'm STILL waiting for my - pre-ordered - Muddy Wolf blu-ray to arrive. :angry-cussingblack: :angry-cussingblack: :angry-cussingblack:
It used to be that when you pre-ordered from Joe's store, you'd get the item days in advance of the official release date (which was the 24th for this one). I guess larger album sales and the associated bureaucracy is great for Joe, but not so great for the average schmoe fan like me.
Sorry, whining. I'll stop now.
It used to be that when you pre-ordered from Joe's store, you'd get the item days in advance of the official release date (which was the 24th for this one). I guess larger album sales and the associated bureaucracy is great for Joe, but not so great for the average schmoe fan like me.
Sorry, whining. I'll stop now.
bscene-buttred: I've said it before, I'll say it again - I've hung around with some of the REAL die-hard Joe fans - the ones that have gone to dozens of his shows, in multiple countries, etc. I'm nowhere NEAR his biggest fan. Maybe a tad more than average, though.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through this and
O my God you MUST GET THIS CONCERT!
PQ and SQ are outstanding. Music is just toe-tapping fun. Not your usual Joe set, either, not the stuff he wrote or normally plays (except a few towards the end). Old-style, pre-rock, blues.
I'll post more later (because I just KNOW you all want me to talk more about Joe), but for now just pausing to refill my beverage.
Ok nevermind, I won't say much else. Y'all know what I think of Joe, and this show is up there at the top of the (rather numerous) concert videos he's produced.
I did think it was funny that one of the extras is an informal documentary of Joe and Kevin Shirley (his producer) exploring the Mississippi delta region where Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were born, and trying to find the location of the legendary "crossroads" of sell-your-soul-to-the-devil fame. They called this segment "Joe and Kevin's Excellent Adventure."
I did think it was funny that one of the extras is an informal documentary of Joe and Kevin Shirley (his producer) exploring the Mississippi delta region where Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were born, and trying to find the location of the legendary "crossroads" of sell-your-soul-to-the-devil fame. They called this segment "Joe and Kevin's Excellent Adventure."
Ok fuck it. I'm into my third viewing of this concert now (and a few bourbons along as well), and I'm gonna say what I have to say. If you don't like Joe, or you don't like me talking about Joe, just skip this post.
I can't believe how much FUN this concert is. It's not Joe's usual style. By his own admission in the past, he's more of a British/UK blues-influenced musician (Clapton, Beck, Moore, etc.) than American blues. But this show is all about (obviously) the ~50's-era American blues, the precursor to rock-n-roll. (Seen Back to the Future? Yeah that sort of stuff.) It's not that Joe's trying to BE Muddy or Wolf, but he's playing songs they're known for, with a big nod to their music and their influence, but with Joe's own contemporary style. This music is almost exclusively the standard 12-bar blues (I-IV-I-V-IV-I) stuff, three chords - again harkening to the standard pop/rock 3-chord style that most of the time I find nauseatingly simplistic. Harmonically, it's nothing new or even all that interesting, but what makes this concert is what Joe does inside the constraints of this style. What he does with the solos. How his band (more on this in a sec) fills it in. It's something I haven't seen in any of Joe's earlier work, and is one of the things I respect most about his artistry - how he is willing to stretch himself into musical styles that are outside his "bread and butter."
This band is top-notch. Note that it's not a single one of Joe's normal touring band. Most of these people he's played with or recorded with before, yes, but this band seems to have been specially selected for this particular concert (which you get more of a sense of if you watch the extras). I respect how Joe gives every member of the band their own moment to shine. In particular, I love the bassist (Michael Rhodes, who's been around forever), and especially the keyboardist (Reese Wynans, who was with SRV and Double Trouble). There's also a harmonica and second guitarist who add a lot to the show. And finally the horn trio, led by Lee Thornberg, who (in various incarnations of members) have played with Joe since his Royal Albert Hall debut ~7 years ago. Anton Fig (~30 years on the David Letterman band) is the drummer. Every member of this band has something to contribute, and visibly does so in this concert. It's far more than just a "Joe and sidemen" sort of deal.
If there's any weakness in this show, it's Joe's vocals. While he's come a long way in his singing in recent years, his voice just doesn't have the "growl" of a true gritty American bluesman, especially in the lower register. He does a pretty decent job of it, but DON'T judge this concert on the basis of the vocals (Zing). Fortunately, I'm not that into the vocals per se, as we've discussed before it's just one among many instruments, to me. Joe really (REALLY) shines in the guitar here, pay more attention to that if you listen to this concert.
And WOW this venue - Red Rocks - which I was not that familiar with before, is spectacular. Seeing the sun go down over the Colorado Rockies over the course of this concert, with the city lights (Boulder?) in the background, really added a lot to the overall effect, at least for me. And to think, our very own Doghart was actually present at this concert, I'm so friggin' jealous... I looked for him in the crowd shots but couldn't find him.
In conclusion (finally), even if you're not a big Joe fan, if you like 50's blues rock, you'll like this concert, I promise. Get it.
I can't believe how much FUN this concert is. It's not Joe's usual style. By his own admission in the past, he's more of a British/UK blues-influenced musician (Clapton, Beck, Moore, etc.) than American blues. But this show is all about (obviously) the ~50's-era American blues, the precursor to rock-n-roll. (Seen Back to the Future? Yeah that sort of stuff.) It's not that Joe's trying to BE Muddy or Wolf, but he's playing songs they're known for, with a big nod to their music and their influence, but with Joe's own contemporary style. This music is almost exclusively the standard 12-bar blues (I-IV-I-V-IV-I) stuff, three chords - again harkening to the standard pop/rock 3-chord style that most of the time I find nauseatingly simplistic. Harmonically, it's nothing new or even all that interesting, but what makes this concert is what Joe does inside the constraints of this style. What he does with the solos. How his band (more on this in a sec) fills it in. It's something I haven't seen in any of Joe's earlier work, and is one of the things I respect most about his artistry - how he is willing to stretch himself into musical styles that are outside his "bread and butter."
This band is top-notch. Note that it's not a single one of Joe's normal touring band. Most of these people he's played with or recorded with before, yes, but this band seems to have been specially selected for this particular concert (which you get more of a sense of if you watch the extras). I respect how Joe gives every member of the band their own moment to shine. In particular, I love the bassist (Michael Rhodes, who's been around forever), and especially the keyboardist (Reese Wynans, who was with SRV and Double Trouble). There's also a harmonica and second guitarist who add a lot to the show. And finally the horn trio, led by Lee Thornberg, who (in various incarnations of members) have played with Joe since his Royal Albert Hall debut ~7 years ago. Anton Fig (~30 years on the David Letterman band) is the drummer. Every member of this band has something to contribute, and visibly does so in this concert. It's far more than just a "Joe and sidemen" sort of deal.
If there's any weakness in this show, it's Joe's vocals. While he's come a long way in his singing in recent years, his voice just doesn't have the "growl" of a true gritty American bluesman, especially in the lower register. He does a pretty decent job of it, but DON'T judge this concert on the basis of the vocals (Zing). Fortunately, I'm not that into the vocals per se, as we've discussed before it's just one among many instruments, to me. Joe really (REALLY) shines in the guitar here, pay more attention to that if you listen to this concert.
And WOW this venue - Red Rocks - which I was not that familiar with before, is spectacular. Seeing the sun go down over the Colorado Rockies over the course of this concert, with the city lights (Boulder?) in the background, really added a lot to the overall effect, at least for me. And to think, our very own Doghart was actually present at this concert, I'm so friggin' jealous... I looked for him in the crowd shots but couldn't find him.
In conclusion (finally), even if you're not a big Joe fan, if you like 50's blues rock, you'll like this concert, I promise. Get it.
I've visited Red Rocks a couple times, but have yet to see a concert there (other than U2's incredible concert video). I've also visited the old Lockheed Martin plant on a couple TDYs in the same geographic area, so cool to be eating lunch in their outdoor cafeteria patio while watching bald eagles on their nest across the canyon! Also saw the Cassini spacecraft (Saturn) being assembled there!
I'm not a blues fan (doubt I have a single post in the Blues thread) but that lineup, I may have to spring for one more Bossanova. Joe never will have a true 'murican blues voice, he never had to pick cotton or eat beans from a dumpster. But, yeah, after Mark Knopfler, he ain't a bad guitar player. :eusa-whistle:
I'm not a blues fan (doubt I have a single post in the Blues thread) but that lineup, I may have to spring for one more Bossanova. Joe never will have a true 'murican blues voice, he never had to pick cotton or eat beans from a dumpster.
But, yeah, after Mark Knopfler, he ain't a bad guitar player. :eusa-whistle:
PaulyT said:
I'm about 2/3 of the way through this and
O my God you MUST GET THIS CONCERT!
PQ and SQ are outstanding. Music is just toe-tapping fun. Not your usual Joe set, either, not the stuff he wrote or normally plays (except a few towards the end). Old-style, pre-rock, blues.
So has anyone else gotten this concert video? C'mon, I need some enablers here.
Watched it for I think the 5th time tonight, and I can say right now that it's far and away my favorite Joe video. Seriously good playing, he pulls these long melodic solos out that just work perfectly in the 50's blues idiom, while giving it that contemporary Joe feel. I'm very impressed at how he does this.