Bonamassa - Rockpalast 2005

Nerine · October 2023

I decided to put on some live Bonamassa stuff to just jam along with and be a "member of the band" type thing, and obviously pinch a few licks here and there.

I stumbled on the live Rockpalast show from 18 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVqsDkyxohE

Anyway, I know JoBo gets a lot of flack, but honestly the first 20-25 mins of this is pretty epic.

A lot more visceral and adventurous and riffy than later works.

I can't really find much to criticise in the first half an hour of this show (although I'm sure people will). It's great IMO.

Some stunning playing as per.

The champagne sparkle Strat sounds incredible. The weird Tele type thing at the start sounds great too. Looks like he's going through a Marshall combo of some kind. Poss Bluesbreaker or 1974 or something.

I'm a big JoBo fan, but hadn't watched this prior, so thought I'd post it up for anyone else that might not have checked it out.

Aidanspaghetti · October 2023

Think it was a blues breaker along with a Buda combo? I believe he was gonna do a Fender sig sparkle strat but Fender dropped the ball or something? Maybe someone knows more.
It is a great show and I love this era of him - the Borderline show was cool too. Small gigs with a simple band suit him!

newi123 · October 2023

I saw him in this period - for the You & Me tour - The Point in Cardiff. Full on pedal board, 4 100w heads, fab band (just a trio) - very free form, lots of jamming. Was before JoBo shed some weight and I`ve never seen anyone sweat so much in my life.

Awesome gig - unfortunately when I saw him after that it seemed to change direction. Became a four piece, then more bluesy, then he seemed to make the same album 4 or 5 times to be able to tour every year........... took my son to his first gig which was the Albert Hall gig, and none of us really enjoyed that too much.

I still respect his playing, and he seems a real gear head I`d love to have a beer with, but I miss his early rock blues trio stuff.

Philly_Q · October 2023

You've reminded me that I have this on DVD, I'm not sure why I bought it because I was never a big fan.

I haven't heard very much of his more recent work so I don't really know how it compares musically, but it seems to me that this has more rocking energy (fine by me) and he wasn't yet hung up on the whole "bluesman" image. And it's nice to see him with some new guitars rather than six-figure vintage stuff.

mudslide73 · October 2023

I saw him at The Robin 2 at Bilston around that time and really enjoyed it. He played a crazy looking Tele (Gigliotti?) and an R9 for most of the night - I can't remember the amps tbh. Lots of jamming. I remember him shoehorning Dazed and Confused into ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid" near the end.

Fingers657 · October 2023

I’ve got all of JB’s studio LPs & CDs from day one and all his live albums inc the two brilliant collaborations until the last couple of live albums.
The reason I’ve stopped being a JB completest is because you can only listen to so much live JB before it starts becoming same old same old boring.
A few years before covid and lockdowns hit the world Joe & his record company were basically releasing a live album for every venue & gig he played .
He did loads of live shows in different venues in and around London and Holland and you got a live album release for every show.
which is great marketing for fans that were at those shows and want memories on vinyl.

During lock downs he became more of a household name because of his sell sell sell and put his name to any old toot on his selling web site .
His home videos of his gear and fabulous guitar collections became must watch.
He basically became a third world gear and guitar owning country

people hated him because they couldn’t by any original tweed Fender amps and combos because Joe had been stockpiling them for years

He’s still one of the best guitarists of his generation and I would love to play a fraction of how good Joe plays.

To this day my most favourite & most played Joe Bonamassa live album on CD vinyl and double vinyl is .

Live From Nowhere In Particular.

markj · October 2023

I saw Joe many times around that time great shows fantastic guitar playing.
Although a fantastic player he leaves me quite bored with his material now.

andy1839 · October 2023

Thats a superb gig. I've watched it loads of times.

Love the gold sparkle strat.

So much so I sought out one of the unofficial Fender 'signatures' from 2005 that soured his relationship with Fender, and had a replica built for gigging with.

I dream of owning a Giggliotti tele too.

newi123 · October 2023

This is the tour I first saw - 2007, so a year or two after that Rockpalast video - he was so on form & his playing is spectacular. Sound, touch and intonation is just spot on. In the room (in Cardiff I was in about the same position the guys filming this was in) the sound coming off the stage was simply spectacular..................

In fact, just having sat and watched this for the first time in a very long time, I`d forgotten how good he was (is)

Alterlifeson · October 2023

His first Albert Hall DVD is worth a look. Bigger band than here, but still playing rockier material. No full on bluesman. Some great versions of other songs too.

Philly_Q · October 2023

@newi123 ;your YouTube link's broken because you edited the post.

Fingers657 · October 2023

The first time I saw Joe was at the RAH when the video was recorded.
Shepherd’s Bush was a better gig years later.

Fingers657 · October 2023

Joe & Beth Harts studio album Don’t Explain is a masterpiece imo.
Their live in Amsterdam album is excellent and their next studio album Seesaw is pleasant enough but not a patch on the first.

newi123 · October 2023

Philly_Q said:

@newi123 ;your YouTube link's broken because you edited the post.

Cheers - fixed - catches me out nearly every time! :-) doh!

Fingers657 · October 2023

I’ve just noticed lots of Joes Vinyl albums CDs DVDs & BluRays are being sold on Amazon UK In bundle offers cheaply now.

Philly_Q · October 2023

newi123 said:

Philly_Q said:

@newi123 ;your YouTube link's broken because you edited the post.

Cheers - fixed - catches me out nearly every time! :-) doh!

Glad I mentioned it, I enjoyed that clip!

Barney · October 2023

I think that is when he was at his best ...loved the tone and everything ..specially with the strat ...he seemed to change direction and go for big production stuff but I definitely prefer this period

EricTheWeary · October 2023

mudslide73 said:

I saw him at The Robin 2 at Bilston around that time and really enjoyed it. He played a crazy looking Tele (Gigliotti?) and an R9 for most of the night - I can't remember the amps tbh. Lots of jamming. I remember him shoehorning Dazed and Confused into ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid" near the end.

I worked with someone who had been dragged along by her husband to see Joe at the Robin 2 and became a convert, spending a small fortune on seeing him whenever she could. Whenever people say only guitarists like JB well she didn’t play guitar and loved him.

I saw him in 2008 so not far off the period in the video and then about five or six years ago. For all that he seems to have made a career churning out product he once was quite exciting.

Kebabkid · October 2023

I have the DVD of this and it's a great gig and he played and sang well on it.

I love the sound of that Gigliotti Tele. Full and singy when required but there's some snap and twang in it, too.

I saw him before he broke big iat our local blues club, The Boom Club, Sutton and the ticket was about a tenner. A year later, he was playing and selling out the Royal Albert Hall

oldfoxy · October 2023

mudslide73 said:

I saw him at The Robin 2 at Bilston around that time and really enjoyed it. He played a crazy looking Tele (Gigliotti?) and an R9 for most of the night - I can't remember the amps tbh. Lots of jamming. I remember him shoehorning Dazed and Confused into ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid" near the end.

I was at that gig too. He was on top form that night

Kebabkid · October 2023

oldfoxy said:

mudslide73 said:

I saw him at The Robin 2 at Bilston around that time and really enjoyed it. He played a crazy looking Tele (Gigliotti?) and an R9 for most of the night - I can't remember the amps tbh. Lots of jamming. I remember him shoehorning Dazed and Confused into ZZ Top's "Just Got Paid" near the end.

I was at that gig too. He was on top form that night

At my gig, it was a Carol Ann amp

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Bonamassa - Rockpalast 2005

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