Topic: Another new member from Massachusetts
Hi all,
I've lurked for a while, but took my son to see Joe in Providence a few days ago, and I have to share what a great experience it was.
[This ended up super long. tl;dr version is "Hi all. Great show May 15 at PPAC!"]
The last real (i.e, loud and rocking, not a jazz club or school recital :-) concert I'd been to was Blues Traveler in 1995, with my future wife. Fast forward almost two decades, three kids, and a fun midlife crisis that introduced me to electric guitar (and G.A.S.), I decided it was time to find a sitter and take my wife out. I decided about 6 months ago that I wanted to learn how to play electric guitar, so after borrowing a friend's unused guitar briefly, bought a Les Paul and tweed amp on eBay. Then my 12 year old son wanted to learn too, and after a trial period with a borrowed guitar to show that he would stick to it, I bought him a Les Paul Studio.
6 months in and I'm playing scales and simpler riffs, and my son is picking his way through Stairway to Heaven, learned Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit in his lessons, and plays all the time! Awesome!
I had gotten two passes to the show and M&G, and as the date arrived, by chance my wife and I had seen Kenny Wayne Shephard on Guitar Center Sessions talk about how seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan was a pivotal event in his life. So my lovely wife said that seeing Joe had the potential to be very significant to our son, and gave up her seat for him to go instead.
The M&G is understandably quick since there is a large group waiting, but it was very cool to see him ask my son about his own playing. Adolescence can be hard, and playing music is looking like it might be my son's thing, the aspect of his life and himself in which he feels more comfortable. That's the reason we thought this would be great for him.
We get to to our seats to find we are in the front row! A bunch of us in that section were marveling over the seats, when a man came up and introduced himself to my son and I, and said he was a friend of Joe's. He was very nice and asked my son about playing guitar, then shocked us both by giving my son a signed Bonamassa Epiphone Les Paul. We were both completely overwhelmed with excitement, and it took us a few moments to completely understand that he was really giving my son the guitar.
And I had already been prepared to emphasize to my son that sitting in the front row is a rare event, and now I have to make sure he doesn't think all concert experiences are like this. :-)
I'll write another post about the show itself later, since this is already approaching chapter length. :) I will say that even with that build up, the show still blew us both away. That Joe and the band play with that level of energy, intensity, and passion 200 nights a year is impressive as hell.
This afternoon my son blew off playing outside with us to go inside, despite the ideal weather, and when I came in for lunch I heard the riff from Jockey Full of Bourbon upstairs. He's also been playing pieces of John Henry and a couple others. I wouldn't be shocked to find him sleeping with the guitar in his bed with him. :-)
So my wife was right. This was extremely significant for my son, in addition to being a flat out killer concert. It's unlikely (but possible!) that my son will achieve fame and be interviewed about his influences, but if that happens I bet this gets a mention.
So thank you Joe, for your music and a fantastic show, and please thank your friend for picking my son. And I already told my wife that I'm taking him again to Springfield MA in November. So we'll see you there.
I will say that even with that build up, the show still blew us both away. That Joe and the band play with that level of energy, intensity, and passion 200 nights a year is impressive as hell. 
