Pittsburgh May 6th? (Page 1 of 2)

Mike,

Broke down and bought some overpriced tickets for the PGH show.  At least they're pretty good seats.  We're also planning on hitting Columbus.  We look forward to seeing "yinz" guys in a couple of weeks.  Rich

Sally, if you're reading this, "Hi."

5 more days, waaaaahooooo!

For May 6, as a pre- and post- show meet-up place, I have made a reservation at bar/restaurant called
"Proper" (as in "find me a proper drink"!) starting at 4:30.  The space is right in front of the brick oven inside.  If you stand on 7th Street facing the Benedum Theater, Proper is to the left, a half block away, on the same side of the street as the theater.  This way no one has to move their cars to go from the pre-show watering hole to get to the show.

They have an interesting menu, including unusual selections, good pizza and tons of craft beers.

Between Proper and the Benedum are some very cool magnolia trees...can you tell if they are real???

So who all can join??  Let us know!  The restaurant will appreciate an approx. count.  How about you, airportdon? We never seem to catch up with you!

Rich & Marge are looking forward to it!!

Understand.  Happy to see you when you can make it.  We'll be there until ~7:30-ish I imagine.

I'm very lucky to work and live within 3 blocks of the Benedum!  Finally, something that's easy!

P.S.  Thanks Barbie!!

We are coming up!  We are spending the night....I got us a great deal at the Renaissance.  We want to get there and check in around 3:00.  We'd love to meet some other fans!  We are very excited about seeing Joe!

Yes rachel, that's it.  So happy you're coming!!  See ya there.

We have seen Joe play twice at a bar outside Pittsburgh called Moondogs.  He has come a long way from there!!!

Sorry i missed everyone, one of those family emergencies kept me from getting downtown till 730, so i assumed you all had left by then, which was a good thing, as it took 20 minutes to buy a bottle of water inside. To make up for missing the meetup, I'll do a little review of the show for those who were not able to attend.

Enjoyed the concert of course, although if Joe is reading, i feel embarrassed that a pittsburgh audience sat on its @ss throughout your show. I remember being at concerts in the 70's where most of the audience was downed out (you young peeps RTing this stuff, it wasn't Your Parents), and there were more people up on their feet for longer periods of time than tonight. Perhaps it was a sit down strike, staged to protest the fact that you skipped us last year. Please don't skip us again, two years without you are two years for us to find other bands to fall in love with.

On the bright side, Derek, Lenny, Mats, & Gerry are huge pickups for the band. Lenny looked like he was having a blast the entire show, and as much as i have enjoyed Tal's solos in the past, I could listen to Tal & Lenny duets for a lot longer time. Derek, i'll have to reserve comments on most of your playing for the next show, i was in the lower center orchestra section in the back toward the right section, opposite of where your set up on stage, and when you soloed you were getting sonically crushed by the rest of the band, at least from where i sat. Gerry and Mats, i enjoyed listening to your parts in the acoustic set, but i absolutely loved how your mandolin and mandola added to Mountain Time, my favorite song (at least until Joe okays playing reconsider baby again in a show). Truly brought tears to my eyes.

Speaking of tears in my eyes, i'm gonna request a reminder to bring strong sunglasses be printed on the tickets if you're be bringing on The Light Brigade during the two songs. That's how painful it was to watch, it made me forget the songs that were being played, all i could think of was how to avoid the lights, can i find my hat and cover the front of my face with it fast enough to prevent my retinas from spontaneously combusting? Is there a pool on how long till someone has an epileptic seizure during one of those songs?

Seriously Joe, do this exercise with the band after your next sound check but before the show. Catch a little buzz from your favorite buzzy maker, sit down in the audience, take off your sunglasses, and chill to some glorious acoustic music, a little rock, then blues, and right when you're feeling at peace with the universe, the house lights turned down as low as they'll go, cue the lighting crew from hell to start up those five thousand watt semaphore lights and have them unleash them on your eyes, your pupils writhing like ants being tortured in the sun because of the magnified effect of our prescription lenses , and watch as your nice little peaceful buzz gets killed and ripped out of the cozy convolutions of your grey matter screaming "i'll tell them where the stash is hidden, just turn the damn lights off"

To sum it up
+10 for the concert musical quality
+10 for Derek, Lenny, Mats & Gerry making the band better
+10 for keeping Tal and Carmine happily with the band
+10 for Tal & Lenny's solo/duet
+10 for Joe if he remembers to Thank his Mom for having him, for us, on Mother's day
+10 for Joe improving his skills, voice and his band, since i last saw him
+10 for Joe not celebrating his birthday before the earth completes the entire lap around the sun
+10 for the cheap thrill and applause for The Terrible Towel
+10 for the sound crew, because it is possible to screw up the acoustics at the benedum if you tried
+10 for your guitar tech, who looks like the same person from your last visit here, is still doing a great job bringing all your beautiful instruments out at the right time for the right songs
+10 for putting up with audience on ludes sunk in comfy chairs, dancing while seated in your chairs is not an olympic sport, so get off your seat and move your feet
+10 for only a smattering of drunken idiots screaming in the balcony during the quiet passages of your music, a huge reduction from your past tours
-10 for skipping us last year. Please don't make us travel with our Terrible Towels to your concerts in other cities, just ask the owners of the other NFL teams where our fans are almost as many as theirs, in their home stadiums. It only builds our reputation as a city that you don't want to mess with.
-10 for the test of Homeland Security's next airport screening device, who needs xrays when you can just incapacitate people with a light show that will force them to reveal the all the extra 4 oz bottles of shampoo they are trying to smuggle home from their vacation in their carryon luggage.

Final score Joe Bonamassa 100, Pittsburgh 100, everybody wins when Joe comes to town.

Thanks for making our lives better with your music!