Joe Bonamassa - Live At The Borderline

Planet Rock’s own Joe Bonamassa is surely one of the hardest working musicians around – with ten solo studio albums in 12 years, another five solo live albums, three Black Country Communion albums, a studio record with Beth Hart and appearances with numerous other artists. Plus he also presents a show on Planet Rock every Sunday evening, it’s amazing how he has time to fit everything in!

So when word has it that he will be doing a small tour of London, consisting of four live shows in four different venues, The Borderline, Shepherds Bush Empire, Hammersmith Apollo and finishing at the Royal Albert Hall – we all waited with great anticipation of what he was going to deliver. The four concerts were to showcase his rise from playing intimate venues, to then making it to blues-rock stardom, by playing the much coveted Royal Albert Hall. This was definitely one tour that was not to be missed.

The 200 capacity Borderline gig last night consisted Joe's early work. Backed by contemporary bass player Michael Rhodes and session drummer Anton Fig (aka "The Thunder from Down Under,") it was back to the time when he used to front a simple 3-piece band. The set list was made up of songs which were originally performed over 10 years ago. The tracks were taken from Joe’s first few solo albums with many of them not having been performed since the early stages of his career. This was not a gig for any new Bonamassa fan, but the perfect gig for an avid supporter.

With a slight rumor that Joe will have more than just one band for his week’s concerts, the three piece then blasted into their opening song, ‘I know where I belong.’ Taken from the album ‘A New Day Yesterday.’ The sound quality and performance were fantastic and everyone who was there last night could see that.

The Set List for the evening was as follows:

I Know Where I belong

Spanish Boots

Your Funeral My Trial

Blues Deluxe

Pain & Sorrow

Story of a Quarryman

Happier Times

Steal Your Heart Away

Miss You/Hate You

The River

Burning Hell

Don’t Burn Down That Bridge

The encore featured another rendition of the song, ‘Story of a Quarryman,’which was requested by a friend backstage, and Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Are you Experienced’ rounded the evening off with a huge cheer from everyone who attended.

Words: Hannah Meadows

Photographs: © Christie Goodwin