Joe Bonamassa - Live From The Royal Albert Hall [2009]

very enjoyable

Excellent concert with great sound and video quality. Sounds fantastic on a surround sound system. A heart felt concert in which he full-fills his ambition to play in the Royal Albert hall with his hero Eric Clapton.

OK OK I'm a guitar fan. Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Peter White have all shown me the way. Then along comes Joe. Not just with 1 Les Paul but a range of Gold Tops, a Bigsby fitted wonder and a Flying Vee. Fender, eat your pickups. The first 3 tracks are mere faithful customer warm ups and then he starts. His soloing is, aka Mr Carlton, akin to changing into 5th gear in the last bars of "bluesing" where he caresses his guitar into absolute breathlessly paced precision...wow, Joe must have spent his childhood listening wrapped in degree level blues licks......and boy, does it show. His image appears to Mimic the ever doubling dark glass wearing challenger to The Matrix Movies star and, only at the end does he discard these ecroutremonts of stardom. Then on walks Eric.Yes, that Eric who so influenced Joe at an early age and who seems to have a share in the Hall itself.... He's cool (so is Joe). He's soulful (so is Joe) He sings well (Joe is better) and the winner of the solo section is definately Joe...wow, and how he brings that to a close...Eric's delighted, the audience wrapped and you'll be knocked out! OK, I was disappointed in their being 2 drummers playing together with rehearshal obviously stifling their creativity but, as an ensemble, it may well have been Joe Bonamassa's greatest night in the UK....Well done Joe and you've now joined my list along with Larry and Robben.....thanks!!

A few years ago a friend of mine said to me " 'Ere your'e a guitarist, what do you reckon to this guy." He played me Joe Bonnamassa, i'd never heard of him. In 2007 he played at the Picturedrome, an old and tiny ex cinema in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. I bought the ticket and went. I was totally blown away. Here was a virtually unknown guitarist of immense talent. I kept tabs on him bought the occasional album, even joined his 'fan' club on Facebook. It was thru' his Facebook site that i learnt he was about to release a DVD of his live performance at the Albert Hall.This is a superbly produced double DVD. The sound is excellant, camera work superb, his band - with 2 drummers - superb, the atmosphere of the evening totally captured. Bonamassa giving his all and rightly he should, this was his ambition. The interview sequences and a fuller interview show the man to a straight down to earth individual not taken by the shallow falseness of the music world.I've given it 5 stars because i think it deserves it. But i do have a reservation. Clapton is great guitarist and i admire him greatly, Bonamassa states that after watching a video of Cream's last performance he set out to play at the Albert Hall, i suppose it's Bonamassas nod to Clapton. But to be honest i could've done without Clapton being on it. One star fades, another rises.This is great. Go out and buy it. you won't be dissapointed. From Holmfirth to the RAH in 2 years, not a bad achievement.

I've been aware of Joe Bonamassa for some time now & it seems each new release surpasses the last both in song writing terms & guitar playing. This double DVD records his show last May at the Royal Albert Hall & features music from his past alongside music from his latest CD "The Ballad Of John Henry". The camera work & editing of the DVD is spot on, plenty of different angles with enough close ups on his fretboard to satisfy the guitar heads without spoiling the overall atmosphere of the concert. The audience is kept nicely low in the mix which is a change for these days. His playing throughout is breathtaking, I can't believe how much he has matured recently. He has left a lot of his old "flash Harry" ways behind & now makes his guitar work serve the song not the other way round. His band, including two drummers really enjoy the occasion as well. At one point the concert in interrupted by a cutaway in which he introduces Clapton. For me this is fine as it is clearly a very important moment for him, some might find it a distraction though. Highlights for me are So Many Roads, Sloe Gin, a monumental version of Mountain Time & the perfect come down last song, the beautiful Asking Around For You.Is he a brilliant guitarist? Yes. Is this a great DVD? Yes. Am I glad I bought it? You bet!

Before getting this DVD my exposure to Joe was quite limited. I've been a huge fan of the blues (and blues guitar especially) for along time but he was one of the players i never got around to listening too. After a couple of youtube videos, a Jools Holland appearence and a great last album (Ballad of John Henry) i decided to get this DVD. And what can i say, fantastic!You've got the big band setup which gives the songs alot of extra power (although im not sure the 2 drummer setup is approriate for blues), amazing sound and lighting production, some fantastic virtuoso playing but also alot more feel and subtley than i expected. And one very cool thing for guitar fans is that Clapton comes on and really holds his own against the technical powerhouse that is Joe Bonamassa! Everyone knows in terms of phrasing Clapton can break down most players but on this DVD he plays like he is 20! very cool! The solo trade off is probably my highlight!Bottom line if you love blues guitar or even just guitar music in general get this because Joe really is one the best around today and not just because he can tear it up but this guy has written some amazing tunes aswell and all the new stuff on the DVD sounds classic already!