Topic: Joe Bonamassa, HOB Cleveland 10/9/08, Random Thoughts and a Review....
Sorry this is a little out of date, but I thought I'd post it here anyway......
The next time I decide to ride a Greyhound Bus somewhere, please immediately send me to the doctor for a frontal lobotomy. If after the procedure I’m still talking about taking a bus, then just shoot me. The bus down to Chicago was 45 minutes late almost causing me to miss the bus to Cleveland. On the way back home, the bus from Chicago to Milwaukee was 2 ¼ hours late for no apparent reason. The people and characters I met were very nice and entertaining, the service was terrible. Greyhound, Don’t Do It!
Cleveland is an interesting city and unlike Milwaukee’s downtown, it is pretty spread out. But I still prefer the look and feel of Milwaukee versus Cleveland. Both are located on one of the Great Lakes, Erie for Cleveland and Michigan for Milwaukee, but as far as beauty is concerned, I must say Milwaukee stands above most American cities. In addition, I really feel that Milwaukee has a lot more to offer than most others do.
After arriving in Cleveland, I was picked up by Susan who had graciously offered her home for my 3 day stay. Susan is a wonderful host and person. She has two older cats by the names of Nosey and Harley and one 10 month old ball of energy German Shepherd called Shoddin (sp?). Anyone that has the care and respect for animals that Susan has, immediately gets elevated in my list of friends. As I had only slept for about an hour on the overnight bus ride, I caught a quick nap before we picked up Patty and her sister Bev at the airport around 12:30 PM.
My first impressions of Patty (pattyluvsjoe) were just as I thought they would be. Patty is one of the sweetest and nicest people you’ll ever meet. She truly is an angel just visiting us all here. Soft spoken with a fun filled outlook on life, she is truly Joe’s number one fan by far. Angels must run in Patty’s family because her sister Bev is just the same. Polite and sweet, that’s how I would describe Bev. What a fun filled day we got to spend with these two lovely people.
We first took Patty and Bev to lunch at a downtown Cleveland spot. Susan and I had eaten already, but I still managed to fit in something else to eat. All of us had bloody marys with our lunch. Hey, we just had to have something to drink, right? In addition to lunch, Patty, Bev, Susan and I took in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. There would have been more pictures of the Rock Hall had it not been that you cannot take pictures inside the building. Oh well, here’s what lunch and our visit to the Rock Hall looked like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8384830@N0 … 986631662/
After our afternoon visit we had to drop off Patty and Bev at their hotel so they could get ready for Joe’s House of Blues show. Patty told us she went to a special clothing store and asked the younger people there for help in dressing her for this special Joe show. Wow, did that young lady look terrific when we picked her and Bev up. Dressed in a red long sleeve top with a sleeveless leather jacket trimmed in fur and jeans, Patty looked like she was ready to take the stage herself. Bev of course, was her elegant self too. And Susan and I, well we were still in our jeans and Joe Street Team T-shirts. Looking for parking, we pulled around the back of the HOB and there was Joe’s tour bus parked. The funny thing though, was that as we pulled into the alley we saw a man sitting on a building’s steps talking to another guy standing. Well, we recognized the man sitting immediately, it was Carmine! When Susan opened her driver’s side window, Carmine asked who we were going to see. Of course, we all said, “You Carmine!”, then he recognized us.
We dropped Patty and Bev off in hopes that someone might come out of the bus which apparently didn’t happen. Then Susan and I parked in a lot across the street and went to a little Italian restaurant next door to the HOB to meet Melissa and Dean. I hate to be repetitive, but if you can find two more terrific people than Melissa and Dean, then by all means do so. Intelligent, fun, happy, entertaining and just plain down to Earth, is how I would describe both of them. And to my surprise, the young man of this century was with them. Yes, I actually got to meet and hang with Nico! As I told both Dean and Melissa, this little man is going to be one heck of an attractant to the young ladies when he gets old enough. Cute doesn’t even begin to describe Nico. The pictures I’ve seen of him don’t do him justice. Look out in the future ladies, Nico is in the house!!
As we took our seats, I again had to thank Dean for obtaining them for us. Second row dead center right, does it get any better than that? Both Melissa and I were issued photo passes so we were not hassled at all by the HOB picture police. The stage was set and Dean, Melissa, Nico, Susan and I were ready……Showtime was about to start.
The opener for Joe was a lovely local woman by the name of Kristine Jackson and she is, to say the least, a wonderful talent. Possessing more of a Janis Joplin type of style with a much better voice and great guitar skills, she took us through a series of Blues songs including one by Robert Johnson. Kristine also plays a terrific trumpet and just kept our attention through her 30 minute performance. If I get a chance, I hope to someday see her for a full show, that’s how great she was. Here’s Kristine’s website; I will show pictures of her later:
Next up was The Man who needs no introduction unless you’ve had your head in the sand for years. Joe Bonamassa took the stage like a runaway freight train roaring through town. Backed by Bogie Bowles on drums, Carmine Rojas on bass and Rick Melick on keyboards, this is the best band anywhere on Earth at this time. This was my eighth Joe show in the past 22 months and I must say, the best I’ve seen these musicians play together. Talk about spot on playing, it’s hard to even put into words what these four men unleashed on the HOB audience. I had purposely not listened to any recorded version of “Spike Driver Blues” because I wanted to hear this song that people have been raving about for myself. Well, I didn’t have to wait long as Joe opened the show with it; what a killer song!!
Another stand out from this night was Joe’s version of “Blues Deluxe”. I had never seen this song performed live by Joe before and had hoped in the past that someday I would. Well, I finally got my wish as Joe seared with great guitar work through this song. I know this song was not written by Joe, but as he has done with so many other covers, he makes this song his own. Plus it’s always great when Joe gets the audience involved in singing back to him. Man, I almost blew out my vocal chords singing the “Shoooooooooooooooooooo” part in this song. Hey, who the heck cares if I was off key, I was singing with Joe!!
I must say as great as Joe is, he sure has surrounded himself with three of the greatest players today. Bogie on drums is just flat out phenomenal and shows his stuff night after night at each show. Carmine, well what can you say about “Mr. Cool” other than, he lays down the bass line for all others to follow. The only problem with Carmine is I have one heck of a time trying to get a good picture of him. The man never stops dancing while playing bass. And Rick, keyboard extraordinaire and a very nice man. Not sure if Joe could ever find anyone else to fill these three sets of shoes.
Another highlight of this show which is always a highlight for me is Joe playing “Woke Up Dreaming”. I will say this, there is not another human on this planet that can play this song like Joe does. Speed, power and fantastic skill is all on display for everyone to see when Joe plays this song. If you take the time and try to watch Joe’s hands you’ll find yourself numb midway through it. How can anyone play a guitar that fast and make it sound so good? I must also say this, of all 8 times that I’ve seen this song performed live, this was the longest and most thrilling version I have ever seen. If Joe somehow could find a way to play this song faster, I think his fingers would fly off his hands. Simply amazing!! Here is the entire set list from the show:
Spike Driver Blues
Bridge to Better Days
So Many Roads
India/ Mountain Time
Another Kind of Love
Sloe Gin
High Water Everywhere
Your Funeral My Trial
Blues Deluxe
Woke Up Dreaming
Just Got Paid/Dazed and Confused
Encores:
One of These Days
Asking Around for You
I could go on and on telling you all how great each and every song was, but still it would not be enough. What we are witnessing in these four men, is something that comes along very rarely in the music world. Four professional, highly talented and really very nice people. Think back in music history how many great bands there were that were filled with egos and over the edge personalities. You’ll see none of that both on and off the stage with these four guys.
Of course during the show came the guitar presentation to Patty. This brought about a rather humorous occurrence in that, when Joe made the announcement on stage, everyone including Joe turned to look to the side stage expecting Patty to come out from behind the curtain. As we all waited and waited and waited, I thought to myself, “My God, I hope Patty didn’t faint backstage!” Just then a little voice could be heard saying, “Hear I am Joe!” Patty was actually sitting near the sound board so she could watch the full show. What a very funny and cute moment. Of course Joe handed Patty the guitar and in doing so told us all how Patty achieved this award. As the presentation ended Patty was greeted with a very large ovation along with hoots and hollers. What a high she must have been on!!
As the show ended we weren’t exactly sure what to do as Susan and I did not have backstage passes. However, Patty invited us since Susan was her ride and I was sort of her and Bev’s bodyguard. Hey, Patty was in high demand and like any star, I didn’t want some over crazed fan getting carried away with Patty. We then were all ushered backstage and were joined back there by Bogie, Rick and of course, Joe. Carmine was holding court out in the hallway and appeared to be rather busy.
I finally got the chance to meet and talk to Rick as he was the only member of the band that I hadn’t spoke with. My initial impression? What a great guy! I said hello to Bogie and he even remembered me even though I only had spoken to Bogie once before. And of course, I did get a chance to speak with Joe. As I approached him we shook hands and I said, “Mr. Bonamassa, so good to see you again.” Immediately Joe said, “Please don’t call me Mr. Bonamassa, my name is Joe.” I figured Joe didn’t remember me and didn’t realize I was kidding so I said, “Joe, I’m Roy.”, and he said, “Yes Roy, I know who you are, you’re Roy BluesMan.” How can Joe remember so many people is beyond me!
As I hadn’t seen Joe and the Guys since January, which is way too long, it felt good to see them again. I look forward now to their March show in Elgin, Illinois and then of course to the huge show at RAH where so many of us will gather and observe 20 years of hard work and dedication to one young man’s pursuit of music excellence. Joe Boanamssa at Royal Albert Hall; it has a musical ring to it, hey?
Pictures from the show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8384830@N0 … 993896622/
Roy
