Pick up any guitar magazine, pretty much anywhere in the world, and you’re guaranteed to have seen the face of JOE BONAMASSA staring out at you, probably with his vintage Les Paul clutched firmly in his hands.
So to see Joe and his top class band standing in front of us on the stage of the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff was something a bit special – especially after almost two years without live shows. In fact it’s now more than three since Joe paid us a visit in South Wales.
I hate bleating on about the pandemic, but for someone like Joe you sense that no matter how many of his albums make it to number one – that’ll be all of them by the way. No matter how many incredible live stream gigs he performs, as great as they were, right here, on stage, with thousands of fans hanging on his every song, is where he’s happiest.
I can sure as hell tell you we were.
The audience was a real mix last night with those who make the regular pilgrimage to see him and the band. There’s the album only crowd, who finally took the plunge to watch him play those incredible songs live. And there were a few Joe newbies who have never seen the ‘Blues Titan‘, and in fact were only recently converted to his music from recommendations – we’ll come back to those fans shortly.
Seeing Joe live it really is all about him and the music. There’s no support act, and no intermission.
Just as the lights went out, and the 1976 hit Welcome Back finished playing (great choice which made me smile), Joe and the band burst onto the stage with a sound like I’ve not heard for a long time. From chord one you knew this was a night with proper musicians delivering a solid sound.
Of course, we are there to see Joe, but he is one of the most generous front-men around and gives his phenomenal band room to shine. They say you’re only as good as the people you surround yourself with, and if that is true, Joe has encompassed himself with the finest.
The opener was ‘Evil Mama‘ that familiar drum intro from GREG MORROW which flowed into a thumping bass (STEVE MACKEY) and rhythm guitar (JOSH SMITH) and keyboards (REESE WYNANS) who was exceptionally good. And there was Joe delivering blinding vocals supported by JADE MACRAE and DANI DE ANDREA, who themselves have flawless voices and incredible stage presence. Then, with a mind-blowing guitar solo, we were there, hooked for the evening.
Joe looked every bit the part in his sharp grey suit and trademark sunglasses. You have to earn your musical stripes to wear shades indoors and Joe has more than done that over the years.
Now I like an artist to have a little chat and tell us something about their day or what they’ve been up to on the road, but Mr Bonamassa isn’t the most talkative, and we actually thank him for that. We didn’t hear him speak till over an hour into the set, and when he did, he removed his glasses and talked about the problems of the last three years. He said……
“It’s a welcome back to live concerts and some live music”
We love you Joe was yelled from the back of the Arena.
“It’s been three years and two days since we last started our UK tour and went to Europe three years ago. This tour has been kind of planned and year after year we’ve been moving it and moving it – finally, I get on the plane (big whoops from us).
And you know, I gotta tell you. I was looking forward to coming here. I love the culture here. I love walking around, seeing the castles and the ancient churches. I’m a dilettante of the arts, entertainment, culture, I’m a sponge, I love it all, but I’ve gotta say, on my first walk out of the hotel yesterday morning, I made a right and I said ‘Holy Shit’ Wagamama, I’m there.
I’ve been to Nandos, I’ve been to Wagamama, Costa Coffee, every f****** chain you guys have, because if there’s anything I know, I want to experience the culture and the greatness that is Wales.
I’ll be killed outside near the bus later this evening”
We laughed, silently agreeing with his words.
“I bought one of the little Red Dragons, you know one of those stuffed ones.”
He then introduced us to his incredible band, and had us thank them all individually with our applause, beginning with an extra recruit to the line up last night.
“Keep it going for Mr Marshall on amplification from Milton Keynes – keep it going for Mr Marshall you guys”.
That was Joe’s only long break from the music and a chance for us to share some of his off stage moments. Of course he did interact throughout the set, getting us to clap and cheer in all the right places.
He is charming and funny, but this was a night to celebrate live music in its truest sense, and Joe and the band did most of their talking through an amazing set of songs.
‘Evil Mama‘ moved into ‘Dust Bowl‘ and before too long Joe played the intro, GREG MORROW on drums followed, and one of my new favourites began.
‘The Heart That Never Waits‘ is a real crowd pleaser and one of those builders that really shows Joe at his guitar playing best.
It’s almost laid back to start, with him picking his way through the song, great vocals from him, Jade and Dani, but it’s that point, around five minutes in when Joe unleashes the axe. If there was a song you had to play to earn the ‘greatest guitarist in the world’ accolade, for me, this is the one.
I did say there were a few Bonamassa newbies in the crowd, and we tracked down two of them……..
Arron and Viv came to Joe’s music just a couple of weeks ago. Arron told us….
“It was my Uncle who pushed me in Joe Bosamassa’s direction. He’s been a huge fan for years and suggested I grab a listen to some stuff and watch his videos. What can I say? I was clearly blown away and had to see him live.”
And what about the gig?
“Amazing – all the band were amazing and I liked that they stepped off stage when they weren’t playing so they didn’t draw focus from the other guys.
The keyboard player was fantastic and we love the energy and dancing of the backing singers. But Joe is something else and we are so glad we came. Really superb.”
There was one part of the set which is going to be difficult to describe, and I guess a ‘you had to be there moment’. At one point Joe used a Theremin on his guitar .
Now a Thermin is an old 1920s instrument, which definitely looks like no other instrument, it’s unique in that it is played without being touched.
As I said, you really had to be there to appreciate it, but the sound he got from it, and his guitar was weirdly, hauntingly, awesome.
In a set filled with old favourites and ‘The Heart That Never Waits‘ from the latest studio album TIME CLOCKS this was two hours plus of sheer music magic.
The band left the stage to a huge standing ovation, and rightly deserved, but as with all these shows, we knew there was more to come, and Joe didn’t let us down.
As the band came back, to a more than healthy cheer from the Cardiff crowd, and Joe was armed with his acoustic guitar, we sensed this was going to be a special encore. They gave us ‘Woke Up Dreaming‘ which was phenomenal. In fact, we’ve linked to his YouTube Channel so you can see him perform it at the Royal Albert Hall. And with the final song ‘Mountain Time‘ sending us off in to the cold Cardiff air, we just hoped it wouldn’t be another 3 plus years before he’s back in the UK.
There is no one around thrashing out blues like Joe does. His talent is only surpassed by the sheer enthusiasm he puts in to his shows. He is relentless live and more than worthy of the title Blues Titan. If Titan was a Greek family of giants who ruled the earth, then Joe is a guitar giant who ruled the Motorpoint Arena stage last night and left us all begging for more.
JOE BONAMASSA is at the Brighton Centre this evening (sorry Joe, they have Nandos and Wagamama there too). After a short trip around Europe, he’s playing what will be two amazing nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London on the 5th and 6th of May. There are a few tickets left, and you can get those through his website HERE.
Joe has just launched the official animated music video for his new single “Mind’s Eye” taken from his critically acclaimed album“Time Clocks.” The stunning video, which is a homage to the animated style of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and the prog rock videos of the 70’s, is released to coincide with the live dates.
Joe’s Band…….
- Joe Bonamassa – Guitar, Vocals
- Josh Smith – Rhythm Guitar
- Reese Wynans – Keyboard
- Steve Mackey – Bass
- Greg Morrow – Drums
- Jade Macrae – Vocals
- Dani De Andrea – Vocals
Joe Bonamassa set list…….
- Evil Mama
- Dust Bowl
- Love Ain’t A Love Song
- Midnight Blues
- The Heart That Never Waits
- I Didn’t Think She Would Do It
- Just Cuz You Can
- Pain And Sorrow
- A Conversation With Alice
Lonely Boy - Ballad of John Henry
Encore:
- Woke Up Dreaming
- Mountain Time
