Topic: Joe in Luna Park, Bs. As, Argentina. (Review is up)
Well what an experience this was!!!!
I saw Joe last year in Buenos Aires, in 1st row, so I was already bona-baptized.... however last year show was smaller (more personal though)
So at exactly 9 PM the lights went out and suddenly "Highway To Hell" , the cover version by Hayseed Dixie started to play. That was a true "WTF?" moment!!!
After it ended, Joe walked into the stage while everyone aplauded , and the acoustic set begun.
"Palm Trees Helicopters And Gasoline" was the first one, followed by "Seagull".
After that, "Jelly Roll" got the crowd going, it was really fun for everyone and Joe rocked the acoustic!
"Athens To Athens" was mindblowing with incredible playing by Joe and Tal on percussion, and finally "Woke Up Dreaming" (one of the songs I was sad for not hearing last year) It was incredible, yet a bit short, but given that the show lasted for 2 hs and 15 min , I can see why!
Now, the rock part begins, the electric part.
Keybord ambience gave me the chills and I knew I was in for a good time. However, when everything started, the sound was not so good. All I could hear was Joe's vox & guitar, and very little drums. During the song, they brought up the drums and a little of the bass, however, the sound through the entire show was not so good, Derek was inaudible for the entire show except for his solos, and Carmine was so low in the mix you could only hear him very little.
2nd electric song, "Storry of a Quarryman". This was the highlight of the show. I don't know if you all heard about it, but when Joe started to sing, his mic didn't work.... Joe stopped the song, and the band jammed for a while waiting someone to fix the mic.... however, it never came back, so Joe silenced almost 6,000 people and sang the song, without losing pitch or anything, without a microphone. Yes. F**ing increible. Here's a video for that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjtNi_yquS4
As you can see, everybody cheered and applauded Joe , everybody standing up, every soul in the venue showed an incredible amount of respect and admiration for Joe in that moment, where he proved once again, he's the best out there.
Who's Been Talking and Someday After a While came after, it was really cool to see the later song, introduced to me at least when Joe toured with Beth, it was really great to hear it, and Joe sang his heart out in this one, really cool.
Driving Torwards The Daylight was great, and Dislocated Boy (with Joe's double neck Ernie Ball guitar) was another one of the songs I really was looking forward to hear. Unfortunatly, for some reason , it sounded kinda empty, the lack of volume in the keys and I was so used to hear the studio version with more guitars and backing vocals, it got that feeling in me. However, Joe's guitar solo was face melting!
I wanna say something about Derek being part of the band now. When I first saw footage of Arlan Schierbaum playing with Joe, I was stunned. Finally Joe had a full band that were as good as him in his own instrument, (I don't mean any disrespect to Rick Melick and Bogie Bowles, at all) but Tal Bergman and Arlan are show-mans of their own, I mean when I saw the version of Yonder's Wall with Joe and Arlan answering solos to each other, and Arlan's hammond solo in Dislocated Boy... my face melt in the PC. I was really looking forward to see him performed, and when Derek was announced, I was a bit dissapointed. However, Derek is an amazing musician, but honestly , in my opinion, he's a heavy metal guy and his playing belongs there, I don't get any emotion from those psychodelic solos, I don't say he's bad, he's fu**ing mental , but Arlan for me was the real deal....
After Dislocated Boy, the final piece of the show started. It was a landslide, Slow Train, Midnight Blues, SPANISH BOOTS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!! One of my favorite songs from Black Rock, and I didn't expected it at all! I was so surprised, I loved it!.
And to make it even better, SONG OF YESTERDAY. What else can you ask for. He played it also last year here, and it was even better this time (my stupid camera ran out of battery before I could record the whole song)
And then, the moment I was waiting for a long time: DJANGO/MOUNTAIN TIME. One of the biggest absences from last year show, and let me tell you, it was a religious experience. One of my favorite moments of the entire show, I was just speachless, sitting on the edge of my seat, giving Joe a standing ovation everytime I could.Simply marvelous.
The encores arrived, Sloe Gin (with a very nice intro by Joe, not the traditional keyboard one, similar to the Vienna version, but electric)
And the finale with John Henry. It was the best version I've ever heard (but even Joe having his Ernie Ball tuned to B, it was weird he choose to play it in E anyway, I guess he likes it that way)
It lasted like 10 minutes or even more, with amazing solos by Derek and Joe (similar to Live Over Europe) to end the night with a bang.
Joe thanked everybody, took photos of the crowd, I think he shot a video too. He uploaded one of the pics on his twitter recently.
The morning after the show, a friend told me in which hotel they were staying and that they were leaving that same afternoon, so I rushed there!! When I arrived, my friend told me Joe had just left for a walk. We saw him coming back to the hotel so I asked him for a picture!!!
It all happened so fast, I didn't know what to say, I was really nervous, all I could say was "Last night was amazing" (that sounded kinda bad after I thought about it 
) I didn't even asked him to sign the stuff I had.....
But then the car arrived, and the crew started to come out from the hotel... along with the band a little while after it. There, I asked again Joe if he could sign some stuff (I had all of Joe's cds in my bag but I only gave him 2 or 3 to not bother him that much, since they were all very tired)
Tal gave me a copy of the promotional version of We Want Groove (only 50 made he told me)
Carmine, Tal and Joe signed the setlist I was able to get in the show, and Joe and Tal signed my ticket. It was a great day!!!!!!
My signed CDs:
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp30 … 7a601a.jpg
My signed ticket
Joe in the front
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp30 … a12810.jpg
Tal in the back
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp30 … 87a8a6.jpg
And finally, the setlist signed by Joe, Tal and Carmine
http://i422.photobucket.com/albums/pp30 … 04c24b.jpg
And last, but very certanly not least.....
My picture with Mr. Joe Smokin' Bonamassa
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/ … 9813_n.jpg
Amazing experience!!!!
Certainly a nominee for fan forum review of the year (quite a few, but yours has significant referenceable historical ju ju associated with it)! You were there and make us feel like we were, too. Thanks.
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