Planet Rock review of RAH show

Hi Folks,
Planet Rock gave a fabulous review of the show

Review: Joe Bonamassa At The Royal Albert Hall

The resplendent surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall played host to Joe Bonamassa on Monday night as he played the biggest gig of his life, and Planet Rock was there to see how he got on. We’ve had a few days to let the occasion soak in, and here’s what we thought.

Joe’s star is undoubtedly in the ascendency. If you had seen him on any of the handful of dates he’s done in the UK prior to the RAH show you would probably have heard a tale about how he was playing a show to just a few people in that very town just a couple of years beforehand. But since 2007, and his Sloe Gin album (the song ‘Sloe Gin’, incidentally, still holds the record for emails to Planet Rock asking “What was that song just now?”) Joe’s gigs have been progressively bigger and his fans progressively more ardent.

Which brings us to the present day. A gig at the Royal Albert Hall - the UK’s most grandiose venue, a stage which has played host to most of Joe’s biggest heroes, and the biggest headline show of his career.

The show kicked off in the same manner as his recent “warm-up” shows, with a stroll through ‘Dejango’ and straight into recent album title track ‘The Ballad Of John Henry’, before the show settled into an alternating pattern of blues and rock songs, highlighting Joe’s endearing refusal to either settle for just blues or just rock (something which bizarrely seems to infuriate some blues purists).

Early problems with the sound did threaten to derail the show, though. A problem with one or two of the PA speakers seemed to ramp up the bass and rattle the historic wooden frames around the venue meaning that in parts it felt like the bass amp was right next to your head. The explanation for this may be found in Joe’s expanded backing band which included a brass section and a second drummer – possibly to fill out the sound. It was a decision that may have been made in anticipation of the venue’s cavernous setting. But with the RAH’s extraordinary acoustics (designed at a time when amplification didn’t exist) it meant that the sound was perhaps TOO big.

However, Joe’s playing is (and this is not up for debate) breathtaking. His supreme ability is an astounding thing to behold in the live arena, and if you think he’s good on record try seeing him in person. At this moment in time you can, without question, count him amongst the best guitar players in the entire world. Speaking of which, it was one of those great guitar players that gave the Albert Hall audience the biggest surprise of the night…

When Eric Clapton stepped out onto the stage for a version of ‘Further On Up The Road’ there was an audible gasp and a wave of excitement around the venue. The sight of two of the world’s best guitarists trading solos was more than a little thrilling and will live long in the memory, and the standing ovation at the end of the song was utterly deserved.

Not one to be upstaged by Clapton cameo, though, Joe launched into a ten minute masterclass in acoustic picking on the stunning ‘Woke Up Dreaming’, a swaggering version of Charlie Patton’s ‘High Water Everywhere’ and his always-stunning take on ‘Sloe Gin’ (a bona-fida shivers-down-the-spine classic).

As with any Joe Bonamassa show in recent years, the set blurred past in an instant (in a good way), and before you could catch your breath it was nearly two hours later and Joe was coming back to the stage for his encore – the now customary ‘India/Mountain Time’ (one of the best rock songs of the past two decades) and the gospel tinged ‘Asking Around For You.’ Another standing ovation and then it’s over and 4400 fans file out into the genteel surroundings of Kensington knowing that they may have just seen the beginning of something quite special.

The thing that sets Joe apart from many other blues guitarists is that, aside from his inordinate talent, many great players seem to be playing the blues for themselves while Joe plays for the audience. And it’s this lack of self-indulgence and his enthusiasm for the music that really endears the crowd to him. He wears his influences plainly on his sleeve, knows which notes to hit and when (literally and figuratively), brings out crowd pleasers when they’re needed and unleashes his prodigious talent whenever necessary. Joe’s triumph on Monday was so utterly deserved and, if there’s any justice in the world, it will be the first of many more triumphs to come.

Tripsy