Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
How do you elevate the already stunning to a place where it can be considered immaculate; a near impossible ask in today’s cynical world where the object is often taken out content and wiped clean of any its original substance, any of the magic that made the listener, or the viewer fall in love with its greatness in the first place. To find something that in your heart you understood to be as near perfect as possible and given the opportunity to be brighter, even more spiritually alluring is the grail to the those who see art as the function of the universe.
A debut performance in a world renowned venue, the use of an orchestra so well versed that the application and presentation of the songs in question is seamless, a reaction from the crowd at first maybe unsure of what to expect when the genres of Blues and classically trained musicianship mix, merge, come together on stage, but which itself elevates the senses of those in attendance, and those fortunate enough to hear it after the fact in a brand new recording…these are the pleasures unboxed as the Godfather of modern Blues in the 21st Century regales with certainty at the Hollywood Bowl with a fantastic orchestra beside him on every note.
Joe Bonamassa’s Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra is an outstanding example of blended renditions working tirelessly to create a perfect sound, and whilst it should be achievable across the board, so few musicians, so few genres build upon the possibility, so few are arguably willing to feel the energy and the dynamic of close interpretation.
Never afraid to take another step beyond the Blues line, to openly embrace further discussion is a signalling of honesty from the perpetually enigmatic, and in this first appearance at the Bowl in Hollywood what comes across is an adventure in music so seismic that it feels as though for the listener that ever fuse in the mind is blown, that respect is taken deeper than ever before.
From the start of the overture in When One Door Opens, and throughout a huge representation of Blues performance in tracks such as Self-Inflicted Wounds, The Last Matador Of Bayonne, If Heartaches Were Nickels, and the outstanding physical nature of unleashing beauty on The Ballad Of John Henry and Sloe Gin, the searing drive of all captured in the full throws of harmony is one of fierce pride, of humble creativity and dare it be mentioned, divine possibility.
Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra impacts on the soul like a meteor blazing across the sky, it is from the heavens, but very much the essence of the universe to witness.
A sublime release!
Ian D. Hall