New release: Radio City DVD (Page 3 of 5)

I was so looking forward to waking up with a dispatch confirmation email from Amazon.co.uk this morning however I was very disappointed to receive the following message:

"Hello,

We regret to inform you that the following items have been delayed:

Joe Bonamassa "Radio City Music Hall [CD+DVD]"
   Estimated arrival date: October 16 2015 - October 19 2015"

Has any of my fellow British fans had the same issue? Have you been able to buy it elsewhere without importing it? I am inclined to buy direct from the JB store, it's a great excuse to binge buy some merchandise too but given my current lack of mobility from back surgery two weeks ago, I won't be able to get to the courier depot to pay the import taxes.

Hopefully I will be well enough to go to the Liverpool show in three weeks time - would love to be able to enjoy watching the RCMH show before then as I am on bed rest for now. However, I would hope that it may well be available to buy at the Liverpool gig as I managed to buy the Muddy Wolf show at the Hammersmith a few days before the release date. Contemplating cancelling my Amazon order and wait until I get to Liverpool...

Sarah

Thank you for the suggestion, Tibor. Just ordered it via your Mascot Label link and cancelled my Amazon order.

Kind Regards,
Sarah

I received my Blu-Ray and CD earlier this week.  I've been waiting for a time when my wife could sit down and enjoy.  Tonight's  the night. After watching,  I agree with all the above comments.  It's as good if not the best thing Joe has ever done and for that I am thankful to every one involved.  As I watched, I got chocked up thinking about how BB King must be sitting in heaven smiling down on the whole scene.  BB kept blues alive single handledly and encouraged a young 12 boy, from Utica, NY to follow his dreams.  It's one of the best things that has ever happened in my life...Thank you BB King and thank you Joe Bonamassa.

I guess I'm going to be "that guy". I'm going to give my impressions and I'm going try to put them into words the best way I can after a couple of listens.. I have yet to watch the bluray so this will be the cd portion only. Please read all the way through before burning me at the stake. I'm also typing this on a tiny iPhone so please forgive any typos or weird punctuation.

The Packaging: Loved the embossed cover and the beautiful cover art.

As far as the contents itself this is where it gets tricky to explain. Some context first. As I have said on the board before I prefer Joe when he hits his rock side. I'm one of those people that enjoy classic blues in small doses. I don't fly hard and fast by those rules so there is some leeway there and Joe normally strikes a pretty good balance. Maybe you guys can help me with this and make me see it a different way.

With that said, as a complete package I feel like I'm missing something. Joes voice and playing is as strong as ever. The band is nice and tight. So these are a couple things that I'm just throwing through my head.

The track list: I feel like it's light, I know it's probably not much shorter then other live releases but it just feels shorter.  The set list has a definite blues feel to me. Think more shepherds bush than hammersmith if we are comparing to tour de force shows. Adding one more rocker or Joe penned track would have swayed me alittle more. My standouts are One less cross, never give all your heart, love ain't a love song. I also enjoy dust bowl and liked Happier times and trouble town acoustic which leads to my next thought.

I felt like the acoustic show took up a good chunk of the disk even though it was 5 songs. I really  like the acoustic set but in small doses or the Vienna show since you knew what you were getting going in .I feel like on a longer track list this would not have bothered me as much.

I'm also wondering if if the horn section is losing its novelty. I really felt like it served a great purpose in the DSoB but after hearing it for a couple of albums now I'm starting to wonder if I'm tiring of it.

The only thing I'm really sure of is I miss the Marshall tone. I know Joe is ever changing his rig and I really hope he finds a way to incorporate both in the future. I like the fender sound but nothing beats the Joe quad setup and I miss the options of the various pedals With that said.I appreciate and respect the going straight into the amps tone and he pulls it off great. I know he said that the fender amps really inspired him and that's great. Totally personal preference on my part like the majority of what I'm saying.

I like this album but I want to love it like you guys. This is by no means a bad album, im just waiting for it to click with me. Hopefully a couple of more run throughs with the cd, video and vinyl,when I get it, will sway me more that way. I can't say it enough that this is not meant to be a poor review of the album and is no way meant to be a slam toward it. There's a lot of great stuff on this album. For some reason I just feel like something's missing.
As far as live albums I still find my self going back to Beacon theater.

The good thing with Joe is there is always something around the corner to set your eyes too. Can't wait for the next studio album. Godspeed, Mr Bonamassa is your reading.

Gotta say Mist that I kinda agree with you. Although on it's own it's a great recording, but compared to Tour De Force or MuddyWolf (which is the best concert DVD EVER!) this one came up a little short for me. Of course, as always, this is just my personal taste and opinion. I love everything Joe and the boys do. This DVD included. Just not as much.

It sends me an email, when I click on the link it takes me to Joe's site and ask for my e-mail address again, then it resends it to my e-mail....just a vicious circle...lol

Okay, so just let me state that I'm a huge Joe fan, but I'm finding this new release a bit off...It just seems that it is a little flat in places, and most of the song versions on this, I've heard done by him better in prior outings...This just doesn't seem to stack up to the Beacon Hall, the Tour de Force, or the Muddy Wolf releases...Having said that, it's still Joe and Joe is great...just a little redundant maybe. One Less Cross to Bear is incredible...Hidden Charms he really kicks it out, and Love ain't a Love Song is just my favorite tune he's done in a while, but overall this just lacks slightly for me.

I had similar feelings upon hearing the album and watching the DVD.  I got the pre-order the first day anyone posted getting it here, and have listened to/watched both many times. 

What I've boiled this down to (for me personally) is the following:

1)  The last two live albums were Tour de Force and Muddy Wolf.  They were, in the opinion of most, his two best live recordings ever, by a very large margin.  Borderline gets more play than any other album for me.
2)  His last two studio albums have both raised the bar significantly in terms of what we expect from a JB studio album.

Joe's career is on a trajectory previously unexperienced & it feels as if it's still accelerating.  In many ways this album is Beacon 2.0.  It's a souped up version of his current tour used to document a performance at a significant venue.  At the time Beacon was one of Joe's most incredible performances.  3 years later Joe sells out a legendary venue twice the size, for two nights in a row, & puts on a show that exceeds the Beacon performance.  We're appreciative, but not as blown away as with the Beacon release. 

This isn't a bad thing.  This is how far Joe has raised the bar in the last 3 years.  I can't wait for the new studio album and the 3 Kings album.

Just my 2 cents

Mike