Omaha, 4/26/12

pattyluvsjoe wrote:

Thank you Joe for a great evening of entertainment!  An additional thanks to Carmine, Rick, and Tal, too! Big hug & thank you to Clancy!  Lots of great energy coming off the stage!  It was exactly what my heart and soul needed.  Have been feeling a little blue lately and the songs just all seemed to recharge my batteries.  Mountain Time was especially heartfelt for me tonight.....right there with you Coach...tears for me, too.  I thought a lot about what those four great guys on the stage mean to me and how they have forever changed my life.  What a world that has opened up for me and I'm sure many of you...the friendships made because of Joe just seem to be endless....what a great blessing in life, to have an endless supply of friends ♥

It is truly amazing what Joe does on and off the stage.  Still don't know how he does it all, but so thankful that he does!  Always a treat Joe Bonamassa

                                                                    pattyluvsjoe

P.S.  Our seats were the first row of cushioned seats...so the orchestra seats in front of us were folding chairs on a riser........very poor seating by that venue in my opinion.  The people in the chairs were so high up that it blocked our view.  Had to sit cock-eyed in our seats the entire show just to see....management there ought to take a seat at a show and see what kind of service they are providing to their patrons.  The outside of the venue looked so modern, but the inside could definitely use a makeover.

Just wanted to add a little more from my perspective, especially the part about the venue. When I purchased the tickets for the show, every seating chart I found on the Omaha Music Hall had row AA, where our seats were, as the front row. So, needless to say, I was rather shocked to see two rows in front of us. Now, I'm not complaining about being in the (now) third row, but to put the first two rows on a riser that's high enough to block the view of the row behind was absolutely ridiculous. I'm guessing that section must have been an extension for the stage that can be set up lower to accommodate extra seating and somebody decided last-minute to add seats. The reason I say this is because I went online when we got to our hotel to check tickets for the show (just out of curiosity) and I was offered 3 seats in a row 1 main floor center. Of course, I now know where those were and wish I had pulled the trigger and snatched them and tried to resell the ones we had. A bit of a pain though when you've driven 6 hours to the venue and you have friends you're trying to meet up all you want to do is relax and have a good time.
Because of our blocked view, taking video was for the most part futile. I did catch most of "Slow Train" unobstructed and Renee got almost all of "Blues Deluxe" unobstructed, I believe. I started shooting a couple other songs, when the "obstructions" were getting more drinks or using the facilities, but had to stop when it became frustrating to continue. BTW, as a side note, why people buy (or maybe receive) seats in the first two rows of a show and spend that much time NOT in their seat is beyond me. There was a number of songs when the "obstructions" were gone for at least part of, if not most of, the song.
Another thing that just drove me crazy; There was - thankfully - a walkway between our seats and the riser in front of us, so when we stood up for the grand finale, "Just Got Paid", we moved as far forward as we could to get that much closer to the stage. Only natural, right? Well, the usher working that side came over and motioned to us to move back to the area right next to our seats. I mean, what difference did it make? We were not creating any kind of issue at all, because of the riser there was only so far we could go. If the four people sitting in our section to the right of us wanted to leave early they could have just went up the center aisle. As Patty eluded to, customer service from the staff at this place (and not just this guy, but other situations we noticed) left a lot to be desired.
And I cannot believe after all this time that there are still issues with the photo passes. When the passes first became a requirement, back in 2008, the first 4 or 5 times I tried to get one I had no luck. I had all but given up on taking any photos at Joe's shows. But for last year's Spring tour I tried again and the process worked and the passes were there waiting for me. So now, thinking there would be no problems, I was surprised when there wasn't one waiting for me in Omaha. As it turned out, it didn't really matter because of the situation with the blocked views, but still extremely frustrating to say the least!
As to the show itself, I think I'll keep most of my comments to myself. Both Renee and I agreed it was far from the best performance from the Joe and the band we've seen, and after 45 (or so) shows we've seen enough to know when we've seen a great one. I will say that the highlights for me were "Look Over Yonder's Wall", which I didn't expect because I hadn't seen the Denver set list from two nights prior, and "Blues Deluxe", which was fabulous! I thought the reception from the audience for the new songs, especially "DTTD", was very lukewarm, but it didn't surprise me because both Renee and I agreed they weren't our favorites. Sorry, just being honest. I also really missed a guitar intro to "Sloe Gin", which had been a highlight for years. Anyway, I think I'll stop there. It sounds like most everyone enjoyed the show more than we did and I don't want to make it sound like the show was bad, because it wasn't. Remember, even Joe on a bad night is way better than almost anyone else at their best!