REVIEW: Joe Bonamassa At Gibson Studio

Just under 150 people braved the dire weather in London last night to see Joe Bonamassa play his first live gig of 2010. Here’s how it went...

It was with a sense of quite extraordinary anticipation that more than a hundred Planet Rock competition winners piled into the Gibson Guitar Studio on a miserable night in the capital. What to expect from blues maestro Joe Bonamassa with his first show anywhere in the world this year? Would the new stuff stand up to his excellent back catalogue? Would he be a bit rusty after taking a break for the past few months?

Well, put it this way – if you were one of the very few people that were lucky enough to see this show then you will probably never ever forget it.

Joe hasn’t played a show of this size for several years, and with his star rising quite significantly day by day he’s unlikely to be playing one again anytime soon. This show was a spellbinding affair that showed off exactly why those that know about Joe simply love him.

Kicking off the set with Ballad Of John Henry’s title track and ‘Last Kiss’, if there was any rustiness then it was very, very well hidden with the band as tight as we’ve seen them over the past two years.

Three tracks from new album, Black Rock, made their live debut in the UK – the pure blues of ‘Three Times A Fool’ was gentle and showed off the prodigious talent that is Joe, but the out-and-out stomping blues rockers ‘Steal Your Heart Away’ and ‘When The Fire Hits The Sea’ are gems that will undoubtedly become firm set favourites as this year progresses.

Joe’s cover of Mose Allison’s ‘Young Man Blues’ recalls The Who’s fiery version, but imbues it enough of his own style to claim yet another classic cover for himself. This epic version of the song is narrowly pipped to the post as the highlight of the set by another cover, a stunning rendition of ‘Sloe Gin’ (hands down, the best version of the song that anyone at Planet Rock has seen Joe play) which was extended by a long beautiful intro that stunned the crowd into such silence that all you could hear every single minute detail of the song. It was one of those rare moments in a live set that raises hairs on the back of the neck and passes by in an instant, even with a near 10 minute running time.

Singer-songwriter Sandi Thom took the mic on a rendition of ‘The Great Flood’ providing a momentary change of pace, and then Joe wheeled out his show-stopping ‘Woke Up Dreaming’ leaving the audience with mouths agape and a rapturous round of applause at the end.

The set closes with Joe’s version of ‘Just Got Paid’, segueing (as usual) into Zep’s ‘Dazed & Confused’ and then back again before finishing with a flourish, just in time for the strict curfew - one of the quickest 90 minutes you could imagine.

Anyone that was at the show should remember this one for many years. It’s not often that you get to be up close to someone as startlingly talented as Joe and see his playing in such proximity, and we were truly grateful that we were able to put on this show.

Here's the setlist:

Ballad Of John Henry / Last Kiss / So Many Roads / Three Times A Fool / If Heartaches Were Nickels / Further On Up The Road / Sloe Gin / Steal Your Heart Away / When The Fire Hits The Sea / Young Man Blues / Great Flood (Feat Sandi Thom) / Woke Up Dreaming / Just Got Paid

A huge thanks to Joe and his band for heading over to play this show for us, and a massive thanks to the crew that put together the stage and looked after the sound on the night.

Here’s a clip of Joe performing ‘So Many Roads’ last night – if anyone else has videos that they filmed last night (that are of decent enough quality) then upload them to YouTube and let us know and we’ll add them to our YouTube Channel.