• Registered: 2009-08-17
  • Posts: 12

Topic: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

I never imagined that I would get a chance to see Joe in Iowa City while I was at the university here.  It was great to see such overwhelming love for Joe here; I really hope that Joe and the guys loved playing in Iowa City as much as we loved watching them.  Here's tonight's setlist- I don't believe I missed anything, but it would have been easy enough to lose track- I was busy being mesmerized!

Ballad of John Henry
Last Kiss
So Many Roads
So, It's Like That
If Heartaches Were Nickels
Further on up the Road
Sloe Gin
Lonesome Road Blues
Happier Times (I hope he never stops playing this song)
Blue and Evil (I'm sure this will be a staple in Joe's set for years to come)
Three Times a Fool (awesomely extended, just like I had hoped!)
Blues Deluxe
Young Man Blues (What a cool addition, the band was all over this one!)
Woke Up Dreaming (11+ minutes...  Needless to say, they're going to have to repaint the walls)
Django/Mountain Time

Encore:
Bird on a Wire
Just Got Paid Today (You are my hero Bogie Bowles!)

The fire certainly hit Iowa City tonight!  What an intense show.  Joe was met with by boisterous crowd tonight who was intent on reminding him of his birthday (Happy Birthday Joe!).  The material from the new album sounded fantastic!  Met a bunch of die-hard blues fans freezing in the alley behind the Englert (It was great to meet Patty and Lee at the very end of the night!). Best of all, I got to meet the band for the first time!  I have to say thank you to all of them!  You were all so gracious and humble, especially Joe who put up with me and multiple attempts to take pictures with my cell phone haha (turned out pretty dark and blurry, perhaps I was shaking too much!).  And now, the Bona-mobile heads west on 80- can't wait to see them later this summer at Crossroads!

  • From: Indianola, IA
  • Registered: 2006-07-26
  • Posts: 4,429

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Hey there Drumdude119,

        Great review there of the night!  It was my great pleasure to meet you  wink   It was such a high energy show. Joe played out of this world and there were lots of new nuances to songs....one of my favorite parts was when he did a sassy smart-alec riff that I had never heard before and Carmine grinned at him like "Hey Boss, I've never heard you do that before!"  It was a very high energy crowd and Joe has taken it all to another level again.  There were some unbelievable vocals from Joe.  Well, let's face it, it was perfect and Joe is a musical genius!  The guys sitting next to me had never seen him before, didn't know what to expect...I told them to put their seatbelts on.....they couldn't believe their ears & eyes...I couldn't either!  Joe, ever gracious afterwards and it was freezing out...well, that's all for now..it's 2:00 am.........got another show to do tomorrow nite in Omaha so had better get to bed.  Great to see Warren, Carmine & Rick&Bogie....love Clancy & Dean, too!  It was perfection...Joe Bonamassa you rocked the house tonight!  Luv ya bunches.....see ya tomorrow!     More hugs to Bill S & Jane  and Lee & Renee!!!    pattyluvs  cool  cool

"I'm not nice to any guitar!"      lol
                 Joe Bonamassa 05-03-12

JBLP CHILD #184
  • Rocket
  • Rocket
  • BONAMEGAMETAL
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  • From: San Francisco
  • Registered: 2006-04-26
  • Posts: 10,275

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Thanks Dude!  Nice outline review, intensely visual depictions! Glad he's getting the love Iowa style, reminds me of lyrics from the musical The Music Man "Oh, there's nothing halfway About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you"...of course the next line don't apply here, I mean there! Not when the Real Deal Music Man rolls into town with his boys' band of delightful entertainment. 

Patty, It's a good thing to catch those Carmine glances-if you watch carefully enough, he sometimes says something encouraging or lauding to Joe, if he is close.   And the nature of the stage setup is such that Joe likely hears him easily even thought the music is tremendously loud from where you sit.  I love those moments too!

Black Rock ON & Keep the Faith,
Rocket

"He still doesn't charge for mistakes! wink"
http://jbonamassa.com/tour-dates/
"Everybody wants ta get inta the act!"
“Now, this isn’t your ordinary party crowd, here.  I mean, there are professionals in here.”
  • QC Dan
  • Bronze Member
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  • From: Moline, IL
  • Registered: 2006-04-21
  • Posts: 34

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

There are very few words that can sum up the show that Joe and company performed in Iowa City but I will try.
WOW, incredible, awesome, intense, heartwrenching, smoken, beautiful, unbelievable, tight and rippen.  Ok maybe there are more words than I thought.  The bottom line is that was by far the finest show I have seen Joe perform and I have been to 9 of them over the years.  He has a way of taking the older standards and infusing new life into them so that they are never really old.  Can't wait until he graces our neck of the woods again.  Happy Birthday Joe.  You gave us the presents!!  big_smile

"It was a new day yesterday, but its an old day now."  -  JB cool
  • Lee
  • Lee
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  • From: Minnesota
  • Registered: 2006-04-21
  • Posts: 2,476

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Drumdude119 wrote:

I never imagined that I would get a chance to see Joe in Iowa City while I was at the university here.  It was great to see such overwhelming love for Joe here; I really hope that Joe and the guys loved playing in Iowa City as much as we loved watching them.  Here's tonight's setlist- I don't believe I missed anything, but it would have been easy enough to lose track- I was busy being mesmerized!

Ballad of John Henry
Last Kiss
So Many Roads
So, It's Like That
If Heartaches Were Nickels
Further on up the Road
Sloe Gin
Lonesome Road Blues
Happier Times (I hope he never stops playing this song)
Blue and Evil (I'm sure this will be a staple in Joe's set for years to come)
Three Times a Fool (awesomely extended, just like I had hoped!)
Blues Deluxe
Young Man Blues (What a cool addition, the band was all over this one!)
Woke Up Dreaming (11+ minutes...  Needless to say, they're going to have to repaint the walls)
Django/Mountain Time

Encore:
Bird on a Wire
Just Got Paid Today (You are my hero Bogie Bowles!)

The fire certainly hit Iowa City tonight!  What an intense show.  Joe was met with by boisterous crowd tonight who was intent on reminding him of his birthday (Happy Birthday Joe!).  The material from the new album sounded fantastic!  Met a bunch of die-hard blues fans freezing in the alley behind the Englert (It was great to meet Patty and Lee at the very end of the night!). Best of all, I got to meet the band for the first time!  I have to say thank you to all of them!  You were all so gracious and humble, especially Joe who put up with me and multiple attempts to take pictures with my cell phone haha (turned out pretty dark and blurry, perhaps I was shaking too much!).  And now, the Bona-mobile heads west on 80- can't wait to see them later this summer at Crossroads!

Nice job Drumdude!
Not much more for me to add. We did see a Gold Top back in the lineup for a couple songs - I'm assuming it was Joe's beloved 052. The new stuff sounded great. Loved "Three Times A Fool" especially - probably because I love the sound of that Gibson hollowbody. Thoroughly enjoyed the new twists on "Woke Up Dreaming" as well. I thought the audience was excellent - standing in appreciation after just about every song, but not overly loud or obnoxious while Joe was playing. IMO, just the way it should be. Of course, it was nice to meet up with some of the gang, old and new, before and after the show, especially Patty and Bill and including Joe and the boys who are always so gracious!

6 Reply by Ed Wood (edited by Ed Wood 2010-05-09 01:05:10)

  • Registered: 2010-05-09
  • Posts: 7

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Greetings. Just joined. First post.

Made the three-hour trip from central Illinois to watch Joe thrill the Iowa faithful. Second time seeing Joe. We saw him cold in Peoria about 8 months ago. I saw a 2x3 inch ad in the paper, asked my guitar-playing son what he thought, he said looks good, we went and Joe just killed.
So we couldn't pass up another chance to see him and, of course, he killed again.

We were second row right and the only downer of the night was not getting to see Carmine and Bogie do their thing (they were hidden behind a bank of speakers). But we heard them and having Joe close enough that you could almost touch him made the night complete.

The passion he plays with even in venues as small as the Englert is just so overwhelming. You get the feeling he'd play for free.

If you remember Joe holding up a sign between "Bird on a wire" and "Just got paid," that was a little something I put together for the concert wishing him early birthday greetings. Just as Joe was coming off stage, I scrambled up the stairs to the right of the stage and he autographed it in the middle of the "O" in "Joe." Then security grabbed me by the collar and got me off the steps.  big_smile

All in all a great—and unforgettable—night.

  • From: Crystal Lake, Il.
  • Registered: 2006-04-22
  • Posts: 5,120

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

What a wonderful way to end my week long vacation. Joe and the guys were certainly "on" and the crowd loved every minute of it.
It was great for Jane and me to catch up with everyone (Patty, Bev, Lee, Renee) as well as getting to hang with our travel companions (Kurt & Deb, Joe & Tracy, Rod and Suzie) who have become HUGE Joe fans.

Sorry I didn't make it to the bus to chat with the rest of Joe's fans and to say hello to Joe, Carmine, Rick and Bogie, but I made a bee line for the nearest bar, to watch my beloved Blackhawks finish putting a whippin' on the Vancouver Canucks!

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"
  • Registered: 2010-05-02
  • Posts: 7

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

The show in Iowa City was the best we've seen!  Being as close as we were certainly helped but Joe and the guys seemed to have brought something extra!  Birthday mojo perhaps?

Joe's acoustic solo was ahhhmazing!  His live performance of "Bird on a Wire" was out of this world.  I really prefer this one live over the BR CD.  What am is saying ~ I prefer EVERYTHING Joe does (a)live over CD! 

Bogie was so creative!  It has struck me the last few times how much it really appears these guys genuinely like playing together.  Over the last few years this combination of professionals has really taken Joe's career to the next level.

  • Registered: 2010-05-10
  • Posts: 1

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

I was in Iowa City Friday night for the AMAZING concert!!  It left us speechless!!   I was there with a very dear friend, who met with Joe after the show....Joe was gracious enough to let my friend show him a guitar that he built himself.  He started it when he was 16 years old, it was lost in the flood of '08 (The "Floodcaster!") and he completed it 47 years later, in April of 2010.  Mark was so honored that Joe took the time to meet with him, and autograph his guitar.....thank you so much Joe, for making this an experience of a lifetime for my special friend Mark....he'll NEVER forget it, and we hope to hear more from you!!  YOU ARE AN INCREDIBLE YOUNG MAN!!!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!! smile

10 Reply by rudy67 (edited by rudy67 2010-05-10 16:32:21)

  • From: Englishtown, New Jersey
  • Registered: 2007-11-16
  • Posts: 271

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Drumdude119 wrote:

I never imagined that I would get a chance to see Joe in Iowa City while I was at the university here.  It was great to see such overwhelming love for Joe here; I really hope that Joe and the guys loved playing in Iowa City as much as we loved watching them.  Here's tonight's setlist- I don't believe I missed anything, but it would have been easy enough to lose track- I was busy being mesmerized!

Ballad of John Henry
Last Kiss
So Many Roads
So, It's Like That
If Heartaches Were Nickels
Further on up the Road
Sloe Gin
Lonesome Road Blues
Happier Times (I hope he never stops playing this song)
Blue and Evil (I'm sure this will be a staple in Joe's set for years to come)
Three Times a Fool (awesomely extended, just like I had hoped!)
Blues Deluxe
Young Man Blues (What a cool addition, the band was all over this one!)
Woke Up Dreaming (11+ minutes...  Needless to say, they're going to have to repaint the walls)
Django/Mountain Time

Encore:
Bird on a Wire
Just Got Paid Today (You are my hero Bogie Bowles!)

The fire certainly hit Iowa City tonight!  What an intense show.  Joe was met with by boisterous crowd tonight who was intent on reminding him of his birthday (Happy Birthday Joe!).  The material from the new album sounded fantastic!  Met a bunch of die-hard blues fans freezing in the alley behind the Englert (It was great to meet Patty and Lee at the very end of the night!). Best of all, I got to meet the band for the first time!  I have to say thank you to all of them!  You were all so gracious and humble, especially Joe who put up with me and multiple attempts to take pictures with my cell phone haha (turned out pretty dark and blurry, perhaps I was shaking too much!).  And now, the Bona-mobile heads west on 80- can't wait to see them later this summer at Crossroads!


Thanks for the great reviews.......It's been nearly a month since my 4 shows in 10 days escapade....but love hearing new stories about the legend that is Joe.....thankfully i saved alot of what I saw at three of the venues.....in case some of you haven't seen, i captured quite a bit of dazzling Joe....but this is perhaps the funniest yet.....in Red Bank New Jersey the crowd didn't quite know how to behave during W.U.D. .....they began to clap at the wrong time which kinda annoyed Joe......and he went into some kind of country thing for a few seconds that had everyone cracking up....including Joe.......here it is....take a look.....if you wanna cut right to the humor it's at around 6:50......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIODGRJa_n4
check out my other 1st and 2nd row vids too!!!!
thanks....see y'all in November at another Joe show or 2 or 3 or 4!!!!!

  • From: Hampton IL
  • Registered: 2009-07-01
  • Posts: 123

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Well, I think everyone covered what a great show it was. Awesome reviews! It was my wifes first Joe show and she was blown away! I know she wasn't as pumped for the show as I was, not knowing what to expect, but she will be for the next show. She just couldn't get over how great he/they sound live! Anyone know how many the Englert held? I looked on the web site but didn't see anything. It was nice to see they added some standing room only seats.

Thanks Joe, for taking time after the show for pictures, autographs and conversation!

You don't find a style, ... a style finds you

Keith Richards
  • Registered: 2009-10-17
  • Posts: 17

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Scoob wrote:

Well, I think everyone covered what a great show it was. Awesome reviews! It was my wifes first Joe show and she was blown away! I know she wasn't as pumped for the show as I was, not knowing what to expect, but she will be for the next show. She just couldn't get over how great he/they sound live! Anyone know how many the Englert held? I looked on the web site but didn't see anything. It was nice to see they added some standing room only seats.

Thanks Joe, for taking time after the show for pictures, autographs and conversation!

I think the program said 718 or 768 permanent seats! it was a great show - we were in the 4th row - it was our 3rd Joe show - hope for many more!

  • Registered: 2010-05-10
  • Posts: 1

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

This was my first Joe show and came from Galena , Illinois to see it

I was in a state of WOW , I'm hooked forever !!

  • Registered: 2010-03-16
  • Posts: 13

Re: The Englert Theatre, Iowa City - 5/7/10

Second show for the wife, 4th for me. He has really re-invented himself hasn't he? You could look a the RockPalast dvd and then RAH and you may not know it's the same guy. Love his new voice. As Joe said, he hits "the voice in his head". I agree Dude, Happier Times forever. We're hooked on Joe.