Topic: Cocoa, Florida May 1st 2008
Thought I would post a quick little review of last night's show (the first of The Florida mini-tour).
We were sitting 2nd row center on the aisle, so we had a very upclose view for the world wide debut of Joe's signature Gold Top Les Paul and it really is a beautiful guitar with the black back and trim. He played it most of the night and Joe looked and sounded great with it. It's a very classy looking guitar and went well with Joe's suit. We took pictures and will post them later.
Here's a preview. http://www.box.net/shared/adbiae3woc
The place looked packed, it is a pretty large (960 capacity from their website) , banquet hall type of place. The kind of place usually used for wedding receptions or business functions. I was a little worried about the sound, but it sounded great to my ears.
Guitar geek Tech talk timeout-
He didn't have his usual 4 amp setup or pedalboard. He was playing through a couple of rented Marshall dsl2000's (or maybe JCM2000s) with a crybaby, tube screamer(i think), boss delay, and I think an amp switcher on the floor. This is the first time I'd seen Joe without the 4 amp setup, but I could not tell any difference. I'd like to know Joe's opinion of how he sounded, but to me he sounded like he always does, a massive wall of great tone! He really knows how to dial in a Marshall.
Also, there was not a Fender in sight!
We got to meet Carmine briefly, Rick and Roy (Joe's manager) before the show and had a very nice chat with both Roy and Rick. All very cool, friendly guys. That was the first time I had met Rick, so I really enjoyed chatting with him for a while.
Joe looked very fit and trim in his suit, and his playing and singing was perfect. You could tell he was rested and ready to rock. I didn't write down the setlist, but I believe it was very close to the most recent European shows. He got many well deserved standing ovations from the appreciative Cocoa crowd. I loved every minute of this show (I think this is the 6th time). Like always, every show is a little different and special.
It's on to Jacksonville tonight at the Florida theater!