20 September 2020 (gig)
22 September 2020
It is difficult to separate the new album release from the performance we saw last night but the quality of Bonamassa’s show last night had a huge amount to do with the album and especially his linking up with Bernie Marsden and Pete Brown in writing many of the numbers and developing his British connection.
The whole performance seemed more powerful and more focused than when I saw him at the Royal Albert Hall last year – great as that show was – and his playing seemed to be massively influenced by his continuing relationship with the British Blues Boom of the sixties and seventies, especially by Jeff Beck and Rory Gallagher.
The setting for the show seemed a little odd, playing to an empty Ryman Auditorium with all of the 2300 seats occupied by a photo of someone who had bought VIP tickets or contributed to Bonamassa’s charity - the Fueling Musicians program - but he made a joke of it and actually made the experience less soul-less than watching a football match behind closed doors. No canned applause but that was the only thing missing from the experience and again he made a point of not adding FX as he wanted to represent the weird normality we are now in.
The show consisted of the entire new album ‘Royal Tea’ plus a few numbers from ‘New Day Yesterday’ and a wicked version of ‘Evil Mama’ from the ‘Redemption’ album. Of the new material the two singles - ‘Conversation With Alice’ & ‘Why Does It Take So Long To Say Goodbye’ – were both real ass kickers and ‘Lookout Man’ rocked like a bitch.
We seem to be seeing a newly rejuvenated Joe Bonamassa at this time. His performance reminded me of the Joe Bonamassa I saw at Pete Feenstra’s Green Man in Barnet all those years ago and to quote the man himself “This whole adventure was a bucket-list thing for me, says Joe.” The new album reconnects the 43-year-old with the guitar-slinging kid from upstate New York, who stumbled across the best of British blues music in his dad’s vinyl collection – whose influences have shaped him to be the player he is today”.
Photo by Kit Wood
Joe Bonamassa’s new album “Royal Tea” is released by Provogue/Mascot Label Group on Friday October 23rd.
Pre-order the album from – www.mascotlabelgroup.com/Joe-Bonamassa-announces-new-studio-album-Royal-Tea-Pre-order-now
