Coach House - San Juan Capistrano (Page 1 of 2)

I have been a long time fan, but last night was my first time seeing Joe Live.

My thoughts:

The Venue -

      400 total seats in the venue.  It was a little too warm in the room and they could have/ should have cooled it down some, but by the time Joe took the stage, it was at least tolerable.  My wife & I had dinner there and it was fairly decent; not great, but decent.  We bought our tickets about 6 weeks ago so I was center stage about 25' from Joe et. el.  I was a little claustrophobic with all the tables so close together, but that quickly faded to irrelevance once the show started.

The couple in front of us bought their tickets last week and was initially seated very far from the stage.  They “upgraded” for $20 each ticket to be able to sit in the same area I was (let this be a lesson children to buy your tickets early)

The Show -

Shawn Jones opened for Joe with an acoustic set.  I had never heard Shawn's music and I was very pleasantly surprised.  Shawn's lyrics are very "Heart & Soul" as he described them and I thoroughly enjoyed his time on stage.  So much so that I bough his latest CD that he was selling in the back of the room.

So Joe comes on stage and the fun begins.  I have seen many, many guitar players in my time, but this guy is without a doubt, the most talented player I have personally seen perform.  Not since SRV’s tragic 1990 accident has there been this kind of talent in the guitar world (IMHO).

His guitars were awesome, from the twin neck’s that started and ended the show, to the signature Les Paul to the Firebird and of course the Flying V.

His tone is unsurpassed, his fingers move so fast I think there was a sonic boom at one point during “Woke Up Dreaming”.  Great tone in his voice and the acoustics of the place were better than I expected.  Nearly 2 hours of non-stop fun

Bogie Bowles is an exceptional drummer and Carmine & Rick did yeoman’s work last night.

If I have any criticisms of the show I would say that Carmine’s bass was, at times, a little too loud and drowned out some of the vocals.  The selfish side of me would have liked to have heard “Blues Deluxe” and “Asking Around for You”, but overall, I was very pleased with the set list.

Hearing his music on a CD is nice.  Seeing him play is GREAT. 

For those of you who were there last night, I hope each of you enjoyed it as much as I did.  For those going tonight, strap yourself in and get ready for the ride of your life.

Rockfarmer out-

I don't think it would have been that exact lyric change, he did it because the Coach House is in San Juan Capistrano. Maybe he changes that lyric for wherever he's at, Capistrano worked out well though. With a little creativity you could probably make that work where ever you're at.

Thanks for the correction on the Firebird.  I don't play and know just enough to be dangereous.  He could have been playing a Ukulele and it would have still sounded great

From the Orange County Register...   

http://soundcheck.freedomblogging.com/2 … use/14759/

****

the best Joe show is the next Joe Show!!!!

Thanks for the reviews. I can feel your excitement! Enjoy and I hope you all have a wonderful time helping Joe celebrate 20 years in the biz.     Cathy

Amazing show BUT this is the 5th time I've seen Joe (Coach House and Galaxy (Dec 07?), Monterey Bay Blues Fest and SJ jazz fest) and I still haven't heard Rick high enough in the mix. Last night I took the opportunity to walk all the way around the room to see if my seat near the stage was too close to hear the PA properly.  No matter where I was, I could barely hear Rick at the best of times, despite seeing him actively screaming around the keyboard playing tasty tunes.  Sloe Gin was really the only song where Rick was heard.

Hearing the keyboards would make this great sound even richer.

Is there any way to get this kind of feedback to Joe? Respectfully submit that this feedback would be lost on the FOH guy.

Tyler

p.s. it was GREAT to chat with Rick and the NorCal roadtrip delegation

I was at both shows and also attended the sound check during the day.  I had a press pass as I was scheduled to interview Joe later in the day (BTW, it went great- will post to interview forums later on).
The reason Joe's Live Rig was not there was that this was a "fly in"gig.  He was primarily on the West Coast for the Guitar Center KOB event in Hollywood; but they decided to add 2 shows at the Coach House and we are all the luckier for that!!!  So, he only had a couple of his Marshall Speaker cabinets and had to rent the two Marshall JCM 2000 heads.  There was also a Marshall JMP head, but I never saw it plugged in.  His pedal board was minimal- Boss Dig Delay, Boss Chorus, Ibanez 808 Tube Screamer, Tremalator, and the Wah Wah pedal.
His guitars were the Bonamassa #52 Goldtop with creme plastic (one of the prototypes), MusicMan John Petrucci Baritone, Gibson Firebird, Les Pual w/ Bigsby, MusicMan Double Neck 6/6 & 12/6, and two Cherry Burst LP's

Did you all notice that new section of music on "Ball Peen Hammer" on the 1st nights show?? He actually just came up with that during the sound check and decided to add it to the live set that night, but later decided NOT to do it on the 11th; he said that they would be saving that new section for the European tour.  This was the 1st time I had seen him play that on an electric 12 string (The MusicMan 12/6 double neck was used-I will post photos later).

Both shows were EXCELLENT!! Bogie & Carmine spot on perfect and achoring the whole time; Rick with all the right keys, and what can you say about Joe that you all already don't know?? Even with the rented equipment-great tone, and phenomenal playing all night long!

Eargerly awaiting to hear about all of the special guests from the House Of Blues show!!!!

Oh my Gosh, are you kidding me???? I wish the Register reporter really knew music a little better.  To say "...he might finally get recognized as the next Stevie Ray Vaughan after all."  is terrible. I mean if you know ANYTHING about Joe, he would be humble enough to take it as a compliment but one of the main reasons (IMHO) that he changed from a Strat to a Les Paul, was that he kept getting compared to SRV (nothing wrong with that) except Joe is Joe, not SRV!  Some people just saw a white guy with a Strat playing the blues, therefore he must be a SRV clone. :-(   Couldn't be further from the truth.
I don't want Joe to be the next SRV; I just want Joe to be exactly who he is- and that is an awesome guitarist with an incredible talent and a great understanding and knowledge of music.  He is a true gentleman and the consummate professional.   Joe, don't ever change man!!