Joe Bonamassa Live from the Royal Albert Hall

I have kind of come into Joe Bonamassa backwards as far as owning any of his work. Having watched a ton of him on You Tube from playing with Danny Gatton at 12 years old to Bloodline (those young guys were really good and talented, especially young Joey!) and up to this current "RAH" DVD concert. In fact this "Royal Albert Hall" DVD was the first purchase for me and since have purchased the "Blues Deluxe" CD and "Rockpalast" DVD. The "Rockpalast" DVD is exceptionally good and the not so good camera work did not bother me all that much just because Joe's Trio is really cookin' all the way threw from beginning to end. From what I can hear and see he pretty much brings and delivers every time when he plays live. As he has said "I am an entertainer and basically want to give the paying audience their monies worth." After hearing the intro to the song "Blues Deluxe", that pretty much got me hooked since I am such a blues nut! He just played here in my local area at a small venue this past week for 2 nights in a row and unfortunately I was not able go catch his act. At least I have the DVD's to watch and enjoy.Okay, having said all that, this "RAH" DVD is so enjoyable to watch from beginning to end. Currently I think Joe is trying to take his music to a little different area of sophistication for lack of a better word. This dude has done the blazing trio thing (ie: "Rockpalast" DVD) for quite awhile up until this newer band with 3 horn players, a keyboard player and 2 drummers creating a totally different dimension. We have to realize and remember Joe isn't really all that old being the ripe old age of 32.This "RAH" concert was a 20 year dream for him to play this venue and also to play the tune "Further On Up The Road" with Clapton being one of his early mentors. When I first heard Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood" album back in 1983, and SRV was only around 28 or 29 at that time, man I thought this guy was God sent with the blues taking such a back seat with all the crap music back then. The late SRV's music career just took off after that and myself becoming a huge fan like all the other many blues fans out there. I am not trying to compare the late great SRV to JB so much in musical styles or whatever, though JB has and can hit that vibe shockingly well from his early age to say the least, but in a way I also think Joe is sort of God sent if there is such a thing.Bonamassa comes off as a real nice guy and has the gift, talent and energy with what he shows in his guitar playing and singing. He seems to be the sum of so many great past and present guitar players out there and still searching to find his own voice and groove. That almost sounds like an oxymoron with what he has already accomplished. I am sure we will see many sides of his talents as the years go bye and he sure has gotten my attention with his blues based style. He's a natural as that old saying goes. In closing, the last encore song "Asking Around For You" with horn arrangements etc.....for me it just doesn't get any better than that! Superbly done and what a nice way to end the night of great music.

To get this out of the way, I don't rate musical concerts 5 stars willy nilly. I own more than 60 concerts on DVD because my favorite thing to do on my days off when the wife's at work and my son is at daycare for his 3 hours is to take the volume of my AVM20 to around -14 db and listen to good music. SACD and DVD-audio have a place in my collection, but there's nothing like watching a good performance when the musicians are on fire and the performance is excellent.This is one of those concerts where the band was there to play a great concert for the fans, and they accomplished.From listening to the brief background documentary on Joe at the beginning of both discs (A nice touch, and not overdone), it has been Joe's dream to play the Royal Albert Hall for many years. This is a venue where many greats in music have played to countless thousands of audience members. Joe stands tall among those great players (Clapton, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Zepplin, and countless others.), and he certainly serves up one heck of a performance.Joe is a fantastic player, and wholey underappreciated on the music scene. Born, I believe, the same hear as Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe is one of a small handful of prodigy guitar players that have been popular over the last decade, but two differences are evident: Joe Bonamassa isn't a household name like the others, but Joe will be playing for audiences for the foreseable future because he is simply a spectacular performer and the fans want to hear him play.You've heard Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd on the radio, but have you heard Joe on the local airwaves? Amazingly the answer for me was 'no', and in my opinion as a musician myself, he is a better player than both Jonny and Kenny. I guess his agent just doesn't have the same connections, or that Joe's desire is simply to perform at his best playing the songs he wants to perform, instead of selling-out to a record label.You won't typically find a Joe Bonamassa cd or DVD at your local Best Buy, and this is a shame. I only heard of him through Amazon because his style is similar to other bands I enjoy. I can't thank the little "Customers who bought this item also bought" banner on Amazon enough. It has turned me on to a lot of music and musicians that I would have otherwise not heard.If you're a fan of blues and great guitar playing, don't pass up this DVD. Here's hoping I can see Joe play live in the next couple of years. In the meantime, when I need a fix of great music I'll put Joe Bonamassa Live From Royal Albert Hall in the DVD player and turn the volume up to concert levels. Simply Great stuff.A player who is already a legend to his fans, and who will be a legend to the masses when enough of his fans tell other's about his talent as a musician. Count me as one of his newest fans.....Update: Still the go to DVD concert for a lot of my get-togethers. I've now seen Joe in concert twice. It only makes me like this DVD that much more. I only wish that he would release footage of his acoustic improv!

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.

Purchased this after seeing Joe at BIC, Bournemouth which was an excellent concert. This is not quite like being there but the next best thing if you have a decent surround sound. Good track listing. I actually think that Joe is better in smaller venues, he interacts more with the audience - at this concert it was all a bit sterile in that respect almost as though he was conscious this was being recorded and didn't want to slip up. Same for the Eric Clapton bit, Eric wanders on , Joe shouts 'Eric Clapton', audience roars , they play together although not particularly enthusiastically, then Eric leaves to pick up his cheque, Joe shouts 'Eric Clapton', audience roars. So a little staged and sterile but I am not taking anything away from Joe's excellent playing - a true lover of the instrument who has made it to the top flight of great blues guitarists despite lacking the charisma of his peers.

I had not heard anything by Joe Bonamassa until I heard some tracks from his first album with Beth Hart, and although I did not like it all, two tracks from that were fabulous ("Sinners Prayer" and "For my Friends"). I thought I would give this DVD a try, and it might be useful to put that phrase into context. I use a WaterRower rowing machine at home, and, because it is so quiet, I usually watch a music video while I am "doing a piece", on it. If you saw the Kevin Spacey version of "House of cards", you will have seem Kevin Spacey using one, though I would urge you not to emulate his technique, which is execrable. Anyhow, I had not had a new DVD to watch for ages, so rather than being extremely keen before I bought it, I simply thought it might be worth a try.There are some brilliant tracks on here and some that are simply OK, but it is a jolly good concert, performed by a really well rehearsed band, and there is nothing that is not to like if you like blues/rock/AOR.

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!!

I couldn't get to the concert on the night so really having this DVD is the next best thing. It doesn't disappoint. The magnificence of JB's playing is a given. Having worked towards the realisation of this dream since seeing footage of Cream's performance there, no chance was Joe going to have an off night. In fact, quite the opposite. I've seen him a few times live and I really feel he was able to dig even deeper on some of the material here. I certainly have a new appreciation of several of his newer numbers.Numerous camera angles capture every aspect of the evening and sumptiousness of the RAH surroundings. There were some criticisms of live sound on the night but the DVD reproduction is absolutely superb on my copy.I suppose I could watch it and try to pick out every tiny thing that might be wrong with it but I watch this as a live concert. As such it is an impressive piece of entertainment that would be hard to better.