This seems ridiculous to say about Joe, but...

As I was watching the Hammersmith Apollo DVD, it just came to me, Joe is a better guitarist now than he was in RAH I.  Do not take me wrong, RAH I is the best I have ever seen and I've seen a lot, but I believe he is faster and more in control than ever before, if that is possible.  Is it just me?

Joe has more layers to his playing than you can even imagine

I agree. But I probably risk some controversy in saying the layers tend to be exposed, in my view, outside Joe's concerts. Don't get me wrong, there are some stunning moments in all of Joe's performances and if I didn't regard him so highly as a guitarist, I wouldn't be a contributor to this forum. But I tend to find his soloing during concerts, even with all the spine-tingling, gut-wrenchingly good moments, fall within certain parameters of technique and tone. There are exquisite bends and vibrato, there are the ever-present lightning pentatonic runs, there are the Beckisms, the more punctuated finger-style stuff and I love every bit of it. It works and I never tire of it.

But you see something outside that arena/theatre environment in which he most often plays and you get a different version of Joe that makes you realise how much depth he has. Look at the Borderline show - a very different facet of Joe's playing in my view. Listen to him when he's doing clinics or demonstrating something and the stuff he plays off the cuff is so different to what we hear in the concerts. Listen to the work he did on the Carl Verheyen collaboration, as an outlier, and contrast that with RCFP, BCC and the Beth Hart work. His versatility is impressive. I get the impression that wide-ranging ability has always been there and Joe can switch aspects of his playing on and off as he pleases and emphasise certain bits of his technique to suit the situation he happens to be in.

As Joe often says, Bobkatmsu, he can only give 100% of the percentage he has to give on a given night; perhaps the Tour de Force gigs caught him with a full tank, a big rush of adrenaline and a massive desire for those shows to be the best yet. I can see why you singled out Hammersmith, I too thought he was at the peak of his enviable powers that night.

Hollie's Dad wrote:

Joe has more layers to his playing than you can even imagine

I agree. But I probably risk some controversy in saying the layers tend to be exposed, in my view, outside Joe's concerts. Don't get me wrong, there are some stunning moments in all of Joe's performances and if I didn't regard him so highly as a guitarist, I wouldn't be a contributor to this forum. But I tend to find his soloing during concerts, even with all the spine-tingling, gut-wrenchingly good moments, fall within certain parameters of technique and tone. There are exquisite bends and vibrato, there are the ever-present lightning pentatonic runs, there are the Beckisms, the more punctuated finger-style stuff and I love every bit of it. It works and I never tire of it.

But you see something outside that arena/theatre environment in which he most often plays and you get a different version of Joe that makes you realise how much depth he has. Look at the Borderline show - a very different facet of Joe's playing in my view. Listen to him when he's doing clinics or demonstrating something and the stuff he plays off the cuff is so different to what we hear in the concerts. Listen to the work he did on the Carl Verheyen collaboration, as an outlier, and contrast that with RCFP, BCC and the Beth Hart work. His versatility is impressive. I get the impression that wide-ranging ability has always been there and Joe can switch aspects of his playing on and off as he pleases and emphasise certain bits of his technique to suit the situation he happens to be in.

As Joe often says, Bobkatmsu, he can only give 100% of the percentage he has to give on a given night; perhaps the Tour de Force gigs caught him with a full tank, a big rush of adrenaline and a massive desire for those shows to be the best yet. I can see why you singled out Hammersmith, I too thought he was at the peak of his enviable powers that night.

I do agree with you there as far as seeing him in different settings. I have never seen him not know where he is in a solo or not knowing where he's going with it. People knock his lack possibly of improvisation during tours that the solo's are more rehearsed and that is not because he can't totally reinvent the wheel every time he takes the stage because he can. I have seen him do it many times. He just prefers the shows to be more consistent and debugged of any perceived imperfections. Of course there are better nights than others and Hammersmith may be one of those exceptional nights but he has exceptional nights nearly every time he plays. Again he isn't a better player as much as he is a different player than 2009 because he evolves a little all the time. I'll watch Hammersmith more closely and see if a agree that it was an exceptional night or just a night you enjoy ed exceptionally.

Don't agree. He is different, not better. I think that is impossible to say. You can't compare it I think, Different music needs different (guitar)styles. Not better or worse but different. I've been at many shows and soundchecks but he was always fast as hell if  he wanted too. But like BB.King said and Joe told me; It's harder to say it in one note then in twenty a second.
That Joe  matured in his playing is true but faster? The guitarplaying is more into the song now and not number one all the time. That's mature.