The show last night in Columbus, GA was in a word, F A B U L O U S! Even though I kind of knew what to expect from watching the Beacon/Royal Albert Hall DVD's many times, nothing really prepares you for seeing Joe live and in person. My first impression after seeing him up till then on a flat TV screen, was that I was all of a sudden seeing him in 3D. I vividly remember his purple shirt, purple sneakers and flowered socks that showed every time he tapped his foot to the music. He even informed the audience that because it was Columbus on a Friday night, he was wearing his best socks for us.
I was absolutely fascinated by his flying fingers on the guitar strings during the acoustic set. Just couldn't believe anybody's fingers could move that fast on one of the songs. My son came with me to the show and I remember leaning over toward him after the second song and asked "is it going to THIS loud all the time?" and he said, Mom . . . just wait!!!
Being a total novice, not knowing one guitar from another, I loved that red guitar with the "singing" sound on "Look Over Yonders Wall", also the huge yellow one with the BLUES BOY guitar strap that we could read from the 6th row on "Wee Wee Hours"
Every song was wonderful, but Midnight Blues was especially great. At one point Tal threw his drumsticks from the back of the stage into the audience and one sailed right over my head. I could see it clearly, but couldn't catch it. When Joe threw his sunglasses to the crowd at the beginning of "Just Got Paid", they landed two people down from me and even though everybody was crawling around on the floor looking for them, none of us ever found them. When Joe threw his slide, after "Ballad of John Henry", the tech at the side of the stage caught it with a baseball glove and Joe started laughing out loud at him.
Joe doesn't talk much during his performance, but I loved the story of downtown Columbus and the Turtle Man. LOL
We were lucky enough to meet several other Joe B fans sitting near us, including one couple that said they had seen him more than 20 times since 2009, traveling to several different states to do it. The only drawback to the whole day, was that while we were eating dinner across the street from the auditorium, Joe came to the lobby to see the merchandise table and stayed to chat with a few people and sign autographs. Meeting him would have made the whole experience absolutely perfect.
I Just wish there was another show I could make it to next week and the week after and the week after that. . .
Lynda B
