Mumbai, India show information

Looks like Joe will be hanging with Robert Cray in India!

The complete article is below, taken from this web site: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/New … 736308.cms

"Amid a range of heavy metal bands and here today gone tomorrow pop and hip-hop acts, there’s still a musical itch that’s scratched by just one annual event.

Over the past three years, The Johnnie Walker One Tree Music Festival has been the only show in town dedicated to classic rock, the blues and the jazz. It kicked off in 2006 with Uriah Heep, Earth Wind & Fire and the original Blues Brothers Band.

Last year’s event featured blues pioneer and superstar Buddy Guy, jazz-fusion violinist Jean Luc Ponty and a show that even concert veterans judge as a benchmark live music experience — a jam between blues legends Guitar Shorty, Walter Trout and Bernard Allison.

This year, the festival will be held on February 9 and 10, 2008, in Mumbai. The Johnnie Walker One Tree Festival promises to be a complete international music and lifestyle weekend. The vibe at the festival is laidback and unique, and the artists are a great mix of veterans and stars in the making.

One of the younger blues players, Joe Bonamassa, as well as elder statesmen, the Robert Cray Band, will play on Day 1, followed by rock outfit Goldspot and flamenco guitar legend Jose Feliciano on Day 2. The Johnnie Walker One Tree Music Festival will also take Feliciano to Goa, Bangalore and Chennai on February 12, 14 and 15.

Of the artists performing this year, the 30-year old Bonamassa is widely acknowledged as something of a blues rock prodigy eliciting high praise from the likes of Ted Nugent who gushed after a jam session: “This kid deserves to be in the same class with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.” Equally at home with incendiary shred intensive blues and more soulful acoustic laced numbers that dominate his latest album, Sloe Gin, Bonamassa is a player to watch out for.

Robert Cray has been playing an eclectic hybrid of blues and soul ever since the 1970s. A fair amount of social consciousness permeates his work, apart from stellar understated lead guitar, with anti-war songs figuring prominently in his latter day discography. Cray is no hidebound blues purist — he wryly calls those who are ‘bluenatics’ — and incorporated an electric sitar on 2003’s Time Will Tell.

One of the most unusual bands to hit India is Goldspot, the brainchild of the US-based NRI Siddhartha Khosla, who plays a very radio-friendly mix of Bollywood, Brit pop and the jangly guitar-driven sound of bands from the US West Coast like the Beach Boys. Besides receiving a lot of acclaim from the music press for its Indie debut ‘Tally of the Yes Men’, the band has experimented with distribution formats, offering their album for free download in the UK, before moving to Apple’s iTunes where it shot to 16 on the alternative chart.

Rounding out the performers this year is Jose Feliciano, one of the first Latin American crossover artists. Born blind, Feliciano began playing guitar at age nine, mastering it by practising 14 hours a day. Through a remarkably busy career, Feliciano has scored soundtracks (Mackenna’s Gold) and played guest spots on albums by artists as diverse as John Lennon and Gloria Estefan.

A consummate entertainer, he even has his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The Johnnie Walker One Tree Music Festival is a complete experience for people with a passion for music and a taste for the fine things in life. The venue will feature F&B hangers and merchandise specially created by Savile Row.

This year, the festival backs the NGO “SUPPORT” (Society Undertaking Poor Peoples Onus for Rehabilitation) with a vision to eradicate substance abuse among street children and homeless youth. Tickets will be priced at Rs 1,000 allowing entry on both days.

The Johnnie Walker One Tree Music Festival is brought to you in association with The Economic Times, Savile Row & VH1, co-sponsored by The ITC Hotel Grand Maratha, Tata Group, Air India & CNN IBN and promoted & produced by Oranjuice Entertainment."

~Rhonda