Nashville 4-26-14 at the Ryman (Page 4 of 4)

Second day of our mini  road trip, Bonamassa Style was Joe's show at the Ryman.   What a great town Nashville is.  We are lucky enough to live only about 2 hours north of Nashville and have enjoyed it many times through the years. Saturday the streets were packed  with tourists and runners from Nashvilles marathon earlier in the day.    Had a preshow get together with Rhonda ( PhotoGal) nmagcorn( Natasha and Phil) plus another couple from  Bonanation, Mike and Deborah at Margaritaville. Good time eating and talking of all things Joe.
Got to get great photos of Joe's trucks and buses as they are parked right by the entrance.   Saw all the crew, Eric Roa, Clay Allen, Mike Hickey and Colin Moody and Mr. Bob from the meet and Greets.   Plus others that I don't know names for. Saw Dennis the Truck Driver too.  He was very nice.  Ran into some folks at the Ryman before the show that we had met at the Louisville Palace show last fall.  Lovely older lady  named Mary.  She has this great shirt that says Joe and it lights up. They had just been to a meet and greet and where estatic for that.

What a great venue.   Loved looking at the photos and statues inside. Man was it packed.  huge crowd.   Seats in the balcony had a great view of the stage.   I think you need to sit in the balcony or first 6 rows down stairs for unobstructed views.   Like I said in my other post, Jack shared excess tickets with us and we ended up Third row floor slightly to the left of center.   Ran into another Friend Pam from Bonanation.  I think she is on the forum but can't remember her forum name.    On our right was a nice couple that came from Napa  to see Joe's historic moment at the Ryman.  On our left was a lady named Flo who may win a prize for coming the farthest and taking the most indirect  route there.  She was from the Yukon in Canada and flew out on a bush plane to Moose Jaw, then to Vancouver, then to Toronto to Nashville.  Wow, now that is an effort to see Joe.  First time for her to see him. She loved it.  Like I said  set list was the same at Lexington and Nashville just guitars were different.
Actually I think you could say other than Joe's playing the guitars were the stars of the show.  We saw Skinner Burst, the new 55 Fender Strat that Joe said had not been onstage since 1958.  It was lovely still has the guys initials on it.  Sound on it was so good. I think he played this on one of the new songs.   The new Bonabird II, just love that seafoam green or blue color.  Then the unveiling of the epihpone les paul in Blue. my it sounded good and was so cool to look at. I think he played Runt and Spot, not sure due to lighting.   But the highlight for me was that Black Burst.  What on earth.  Crazy good it sounded.  I just wanted to go hang out with Mike Hickey and hold those guitars.  I am just now learning to play( which means I bought a guitar and pretend I can play) but I have come to love looking at these old ones. Such  a fun thing when you go to Joe's shows, seeing the star studded line up!
The music was great, Joe was great as always.  The only issue was these stupid drunks in the second row on right side of stage.  Just rude and horrible.  the stood up most of the night and hooted and hollered.  I was so sad for Joe cause I know what a big deal playing at the Ryman was for him.  During the song Mountain Time, it seemed Joe just got mad and did not finish one really quiet part.  Last negative thing was the way folks just started coming up and taking pictures and standing in the aisle. No manners.   But none of this detracted from the Glory of Joe and the band and their performance.  Stellar!

Last comments are just a random thought about seeing Joe on that stage.  I have been there several times over the years and saw folks like Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Little Jimmy Dickens, Johnny Cash, Porter Wagner, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell on and on.  What an honor to see Joe Bonamassa on that stage and just tearing it up. Mind bending, face melting unreal sounds were heard all night long. Thank you Joe, you my friend have arrived.

Accoustic Set:
Woke Up Dreaming
Seagul
Jelly Roll
Black Lung Heartache
Happier Times
Jockey Full of Bourbon
Dislocated Boy
Ball Peen Hammer
Athens to Athens

Electric Set:
Dust Bowl
Who's BeenTalking
Oh Beautiful
Blues Deluxes 
Slow Train
Love Ain't a Love Song
Sloe Gin
Ballad of John Henry
Django
Mountain Time

Forgot to say how epic Blues Deluxe and happier Times were again.   Each solo seemed extra long also

Natasha, Mary, Barbie, Thanks Ladies!  Excellence IN Broads Broadcasting Awards!!!

Mary, I've only listened to those country performers, mesmerized (or not, sometimes! ).  But to see them actually performing...   Boy, I mean GIRL, your got it bad for guitars now!!! Awesome!!!

Rock ON & Keep the Faith,
Rocket

We just received a really nice thank you letter from Phil's Nashville client who we took with us to the show. "...Joe was so impressive. Charlotte and I are already talking about seeing him again and taking our boys." Yup, there you have it, once you see Joe all you can think of is when you're going to be able to see him again