New York born blues guitar wizard Joe Bonamassa began playing guitar at a very young age and the flame of the string passion which started burning inside him finally evolved into one of the most appreciated contemporary blues players around! Huge influences from guitar titans and great blues masters such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Duke Robillard, Danny Gatton, Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, BB King are obvious in Joe's way of playing. The tracks which make their appearance on this live CD come from his first couple of albums - very energetic, very dynamic and lots of fabulous guitar playing.
After listening to this live CD, you will find out why he is nicknamed Smokin' Joe. This guy really rules! X-tra blues/jazzy feelings surround us here and lead us to a better place full of musical hope! He comes out of the Blues Rock tradition, but he just plain rocks. Improvisation, emotional purity, distinctive chops and technical prowess are very obvious and vivid here! This live CD was recorded on 01-12-2001 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, as the last show of a 60 date tour. The crowd seems to be very pleased by the appearance and the performance of the band and they participate with enthusiasm as it can be heard in this live sonic document. All of Joe's friends will definitely love his performance here. For those who are not acquainted yet with Joe they just have a fine chance now to discover him! It would definitely be cool to watch a Joe Joe Bonamassa concert.
The famous Guitar World magazine describes him as a raw musical talent with powerful and gritty voice, accompanied by a tight and rocking band catchy and gutchy tunes and last but not least some serious guitar chops, and we definitely have no doubt about these characterizations!
The following tracks off this release could be desscribed as highlights: Cradle Rock, Steppin' Out / Rice Pudding, Miss You, Hate You, Walk in My Shadows, If Heartaches Were Nickels.
If you consider yourself a Blues freak go and dig in Joe's live CD without any shadows of fear and you will have a fine time if you also add whiskey consumption along with the listening procedure. If you are not so anxious to listen to this live recording of Joe just wait patiently until his next studio CD will hit the music racks! Until then the Blues are all right baby!