Joe Bonamassa is getting ready to release his 13th studio album titled “Driving Towards Daylight” on May 22 (reviewed here) and is currently on tour in support of it. Joe was born in New Hartford, NY, which isn’t too far away from the show he performed this past Wednesday night at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Joe considers himself at home when he plays the Western New York area. He remembers playing the old Major Hooples (now a bare parking lot) and the Lafayette Tap Room which is now remodeled, as stated during his performance.
Bonamassa took the stage 8pm sharp and went into the first track of his 2011 studio release “Dust Bowl’” called “Slow Train.” Joe appearing in his trademark suit and dark sunglasses blasted through many blues gems including Gary Moore’s “Midnight Blues,” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Whose been Talking ,” and Eric Clapton’s “Further on Up the Road. “ Besides these, Joe tackled plenty of his own compositions. On every song Joe exhumed his talent but nowhere more evident than on “Dust Bowl” in my opinion. It’s’ really hard to pick apart what song or moment Joe was at his best because the entire show was just about flawless. He used a white Gibson double neck guitar on The Who cover “Young Man Blues,” and gave a spirited effort on the acoustic guitar on “Woke up Dreaming,” where he added some flamenco style playing to the song.
Joe also used the Vox box on songs “Whose Been Talking” and “Just Got Paid.” Bonamassa displayed his endearing quality during his solo on “Blues Deluxe’ where he quipped, “no pictures mom,” as she stood there in front of him with her camera phone trying to get a shot. Mind you he was smiling when he said it and didn’t miss a note. Everyone around who heard him got a good laugh out of it!
It seems like Joe is currently on a run of releasing so much music in a short amount of time that it kind of reminded me of how Kiss operated back in the 1970’s. Between his band Black Country Communion, his solo stuff and collaborative projects, just in the last 3 years he has released 7 albums; astonishing!
For the fans that came to see him perform Wednesday night, the future continues to look bright as Joe gets ready to “Drive Towards Daylight!”
Setlist:
Slow Train
Last Kiss
Midnight Blues (Gary Moore cover)
Dust Bowl
Who’s Been Talking (Howlin’ Wolf cover)
Sloe Gin (Tim Curry cover)
The Ballad of John Henry
Lonesome Road Blues
Yonder Wall
Further on up the Road (Eric Clapton cover)
Blues Deluxe (Jeff Beck cover)
Young Man Blues (The Who cover)
Woke up Dreaming
Mountain Time
Encore:
Driving Towards Daylight
Just Got Paid (ZZ Top cover)
We would like to thank Erin Cook of Jensen Communications for allowing BackstageAxxess.com to review the show.
