Pike's Peak Center, Colorado Springs

so....I just wrote a long review on this show, but am doing it at work.  Apparantly I took too long and when I finally hit submit it just gave me an error message.  Bummer.  Not super motivated to type my novel again so will try to hit the key points again while being a little more concise.

The show was fantastic.  Joe and the band were in tremendous form and I thoroughly enjoyed the setlist.  For me personally, I am so thankful to see Reese still with the band.  I am such a huge fan of his and think he adds so much to what Joe does.  I have been fortunate enough to see Joe what I consider many times ( in the teens now....mere drop in the bucket compared to many on this forum) and Joe continues to amaze me.  Love seeing him continue to challenge himself in new directions and evolve his playing.  He is truly inspiring.  He was on fire as always last night.  Joe announced that they sold out the show on a Tuesday night.  He seemed very pleased.  From what I know of the Pike's Peak Center it holds about 2000.

The crowd was lively and into the show.  The responses from the crowd were very energetic.  Everyone seemed to be absolutely loving it.  Lots of hollering and yelling things during the quiet parts, which I know drives Joe nuts, but he powered through regardless.  It was the same set list as the recent shows.  To be clear....I mean recent shows with no guest performers sitting in.  ( more on that in a minute).

I was lucky enough to be added to the guest list.  Was awesome to get to talk to Joe for a few minutes before the show and get some things signed again.  Joe was super nice and accomodating as always.  I told him I am someone who has played hard rock and metal forever and that I am trying to transition over to being focused more on playing blues.  I asked what advice he could give me on the transition.  He was joking and giving me a hard time.  He told me to get rid of whatever pointy 7 string guitar and high gain amp I am currently using as a starting point.  I told him I mostly play Paul Reed Smith guitars.  He said....yeah.....get rid of those too.    He was very generous with his time and gave me some good advice.

There was no guest perfomer last night.  Given that Joe and Ron presented Austin Young with a guitar last summer at the Red Rocks show, and Austin is from Colorado Springs, I was hoping Joe might pull Austin up on stage for a song.  It didn't happen obviously.  However; I did run into Austin and his Mom at the meet and greet and caught up with him.  I asked if he was going to be sitting in with Joe.  He said no way...I am just here to learn tonight.  Learning from the master.  I know he has so much respect for Joe.  Austin still loves his Les Paul and is tearing it up on that guitar.  Austin is currently attending college in Denver so he is pretty focused on that, but still playing a lot of shows with his band.  As a a nice bonus for Austin, when they announced his name for the meet and greet a bunch of us who were there cheered loudly for him.  Austin is a tremendous kid with a ton of talent.  Sure hope to see him and Joe swap some licks on stage together one of these days.

It was another amazing Joe experience last night that I feel incredibly blessed to have been part of.  I can't wait to do it all again at Red Rocks in August.

so....I just wrote a long review on this show, but am doing it at work.  Apparantly I took too long and when I finally hit submit it just gave me an error message.  Bummer.  Not super motivated to type my novel again so will try to hit the key points again while being a little more concise.

The show was fantastic.  Joe and the band were in tremendous form and I thoroughly enjoyed the setlist.  For me personally, I am so thankful to see Reese still with the band.  I am such a huge fan of his and think he adds so much to what Joe does.  I have been fortunate enough to see Joe what I consider many times ( in the teens now....mere drop in the bucket compared to many on this forum) and Joe continues to amaze me.  Love seeing him continue to challenge himself in new directions and evolve his playing.  He is truly inspiring.  He was on fire as always last night.  Joe announced that they sold out the show on a Tuesday night.  He seemed very pleased.  From what I know of the Pike's Peak Center it holds about 2000.

The crowd was lively and into the show.  The responses from the crowd were very energetic.  Everyone seemed to be absolutely loving it.  Lots of hollering and yelling things during the quiet parts, which I know drives Joe nuts, but he powered through regardless.  It was the same set list as the recent shows.  To be clear....I mean recent shows with no guest performers sitting in.  ( more on that in a minute).

I was lucky enough to be added to the guest list.  Was awesome to get to talk to Joe for a few minutes before the show and get some things signed again.  Joe was super nice and accomodating as always.  I told him I am someone who has played hard rock and metal forever and that I am trying to transition over to being focused more on playing blues.  I asked what advice he could give me on the transition.  He was joking and giving me a hard time.  He told me to get rid of whatever pointy 7 string guitar and high gain amp I am currently using as a starting point.  I told him I mostly play Paul Reed Smith guitars.  He said....yeah.....get rid of those too.    He was very generous with his time and gave me some good advice.

There was no guest perfomer last night.  Given that Joe and Ron presented Austin Young with a guitar last summer at the Red Rocks show, and Austin is from Colorado Springs, I was hoping Joe might pull Austin up on stage for a song.  It didn't happen obviously.  However; I did run into Austin and his Mom at the meet and greet and caught up with him.  I asked if he was going to be sitting in with Joe.  He said no way...I am just here to learn tonight.  Learning from the master.  I know he has so much respect for Joe.  Austin still loves his Les Paul and is tearing it up on that guitar.  Austin is currently attending college in Denver so he is pretty focused on that, but still playing a lot of shows with his band.  As a a nice bonus for Austin, when they announced his name for the meet and greet a bunch of us who were there cheered loudly for him.  Austin is a tremendous kid with a ton of talent.  Sure hope to see him and Joe swap some licks on stage together one of these days.

It was another amazing Joe experience last night that I feel incredibly blessed to have been part of.  I can't wait to do it all again at Red Rocks in August.