Tag Archives: Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa, Blues Of Desperation. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Majestic and stately, the modern Godfather of the grandiose and the beautiful Blues; in another time Joe Bonamassa would have sat at the high table with the great and the good and already have volumes of books dedicated to his output and imposing creativity sitting on library shelves and be revered across the mists of time; the down fall of such lauded attitude would be that many now would not see the glory of performance, instead it would just be another story in which older Blues fans played up to.

Joe Bonamassa, Blues Of Desperation. Album Review. full post

(458 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Live At Radio City Music Hall. Album Reviews.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If you’re going to go big, if you aim to go bigger than the Vienna Opera House then there really are only two places you can go. Either you spend a week putting the glitz and glamour into perspective at the Royal Albert Hall or you take on the history associated with New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Everything else in between is straddled between beautiful venue after interesting city or going all out and serenading 200,000 people at Rock In Rio; Radio City Hall is as big as it gets without going over the top.

Joe Bonamassa, Live At Radio City Music Hall. Album Reviews. full post

(507 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks. Live Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It’s always tempting to wonder how certain genres or moods will be viewed fifty years in the future, when the generation who shaped a period of time will perhaps have shuffled off into the sunset and those that followed in their wake are left to assess what exactly their music meant to them. It’s a tempting thought filled with the potential to be uplifting and equally, sobering.

Joe Bonamassa, Muddy Wolf At Red Rocks. Live Album Review. full post

(539 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa To Return To The Liverpool Echo Arena In October.

Joe Bonamassa at the Liverpool Echo Arena in August 2012. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Following the recent announcement of Joe Bonamassa’s live DVD, Blu-ray and live album, Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks, and his critically acclaimed 2014 studio album Different Shades of Blue, the internationally renowned guitarist embarks on seven date U.K. arena tour in October 2015. The new dates follow Joe’s 4-night residency at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo between March 17^th to the 21^st.

The dates, which include a return to the Liverpool Echo Arena on Friday 23^rd October, starts in Newcastle on Wednesday 21^st October and visits venues in Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth, before finally finishing in Brighton on Saturday October 31^st.

Joe Bonamassa To Return To The Liverpool Echo Arena In October. full post

(168 words, 1 image, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Different Shades Of Blue. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When Joe Bonamassa makes an entrance, the polite thing to do is to acknowledge the depth of arrival. However who wants polite when arguably the greatest and most prolific Blues guitarist of the last 40 years is in town, the only thing you should really do is applaud wildly and thank which ever deity you entrust your soul to, which ever spectrum of existence is closest to your overall reasoning, that there is a place in the universe for Joe Bonamassa.

Joe Bonamassa, Different Shades Of Blue. Album Review. full post

(425 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

To capture someone in all their glory live can be a laborious and sometimes self sacrificing work, an effort of near epic proportions is needed by a lot of people to make sure that the magic that is heard is portrayed correctly and doesn’t become a fuzzy after thought in the listener’s minds. In Joe Bonamassa, there really is no need to ever question what the end result will sound like as his unique personality and guitar playing are always top quality and when the music is within the confines of the Vienna Opera House then it’s an experience to savour.

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, Album Review. full post

(391 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Simon McBride, Crossing the Line. Album Review.

This year has seen some incredible blues albums being released and the vast majority of them by women. This is not only great news to see the likes of Beverly McClellan, Beth Hart, Bonnie Raitt and Joanne Shaw Taylor take on the men at their own game but it also sees the new men of Blues raise their standards.

In a similar fashion the punk explosion of the 1970’s that musically threatened the old established figures , what is coming through is exciting and new and whilst led by Joe Bonamassa and some of the older guard like Robert Cray are still the Gods that every one aspires to become. This is no less true in the case of the exceptional Belfast Blues man Simon McBride.

Simon McBride, Crossing the Line. Album Review. full post

(370 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Black Country Communion, Afterglow. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Black Country Communion, a supergroup so good they had to give the four members a third album just to satisfy the incredible clamour and deluge from their overwhelming number of fans.

The group certainly need no introduction, the music really does speak for itself, self assured, distinctive, mind blowing and with so much depth it practically carves out a 10 foot deep trench with ease; this is what makes Black Country Communion one of the best bands of the last two decades, and they seem to have managed this in less than three years.

Black Country Communion, Afterglow. Album Review. full post

(396 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Beth Hart, Bang Bang Boom Boom. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It cannot just be by chance that music producer Kevin Shirley aligns himself with some of the most fascinating and brilliant people within modern blues and they don’t come much more fantastic than Beth Hart or her new album Bang Bang Boom Boom.

Following on from her collaboration with the man who makes blues seem effortless and instinctive, Joe Bonamassa, for the 2011 album Don’t Explain and her simply stunning album, 2010’s My California, Ms. Hart has once more come up with songs that are musically strong and reveal another layer to her virtuoso performances both as writer of intense feeling and also as a vocalist. Her intonation and deep desire in her voice gets underneath your skin and tugs at every resistance you may possess until you give over to her demands.

Beth Hart, Bang Bang Boom Boom. Album Review. full post

(416 words, 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton.

Originally published by The Birmingham Mail. April 2009.

Joe Bonamassa shows that you can be considered a blues legend before you reach 40. The likeable and amiable singer and guitarist has played with some of the greats of the genre but he still seems to be in awe of the fact that a capacity crowd of music lovers would come and see him perform live.

He began a night of incredible music with Django from the 2006 album You and Me before going full steam into the Ballad of John Henry from this year’s album offering of the same name.

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. Civic Hall, Wolverhampton. full post

(136 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)