Joe Bonamassa Delivered A Perfect Evening

  • Wednesday, December 10, 2014
  • Mark A. Herndon

The excitement has been building for weeks after Chattanooga OnStage announced Joe Bonamassa would make a Chattanooga stop on his tour schedule.  As I started to walk in, I noticed the onsite remote from Classic Rock, stopping to see my friends, you know the guys too, Scott Chase and Robert Floyd with KZ106 classic rock radio. All part of setting the stage for one of the greatest living legends of blues/rock to the Chattanooga “Live” Music Scene. Joe Bonamassa brought more that his great guitar hands to the stage, he brought a dynasty of music.  A collection of talent, guitars and the best musicians, stage techs and tour management.

The tour stop included eight acoustic songs on the set list including Dust Bowl, Jelly Roll, Different Shades of Blue, Black Lung Heartache, Happier Times, Jockey Full of Bourbon, Dislocated Boy and Athens to Athens. 

Taking a short pause between the acoustic set, Joe Bonamassa introduced the band members for the acoustic/electric sets.  The gifted musicians were Joe Bonamassa: (Guitar, Vocals A/E) Matt Wester (Mandolin  A) Lenny Castro (Percussions A) Carmine Rojas: (Bass E) Tal Bergman (Drums E ) and Derek Sherinian (Keyboard A/E). 

Then killing the electric set list with Hey Baby, Oh Beautiful, Hidden Charms, Double Trouble, Gave Up Everything For You, Love Ain’t a Love Song, Sloe Gin, Ballad of John Henry, with the last two for encore Django and Mountain Time. 

The evening was perfect in many ways.  The seats were full, the lights and sound was tuned well.  The acoustics in the house was awesome.    

Here is what you should know whether you were at the spectacular spiritual music service or not.  Joe is one of the greatest living guitarist still shredding the six strings.  He is more than keeping the blues on fire. He is a mentor; an inspiration for all guitarists from garage bands to national stage bands and artists.  

I looked in on his website for more information at http://www.jbonamassa.com:  “As Joe Bonamassa approaches his 26th year as a professional musician, he continues to blaze a remarkably versatile artistic trail, and amass an authentic, innovative and soulful body of work.  Bonamassa’s career began onstage opening for B.B. King in 1989, when he was only 12 years old.  Today, he is hailed worldwide as one of the greatest guitar players of his generation, and is an ever-evolving singer-songwriter who has released 15 solo albums in the last 13 years, all on his own label, J&R Adventures.  Bonamassa’s tour schedule consistently hovers at around 200 shows worldwide each year, and a heaping handful of markedly diverse side projects keep him thinking outside the box and flexing every musical muscle he’s got. He founded and oversees the non-profit Keeping The Blues Alive Foundation to promote the heritage of the blues to the next generation, fund music scholarships, and supplement the loss of music education in public schools.” 

If you missed this, check the tour schedule as he continues his way through the southeast region. Thanks, Joe, the musicians and tour manager for an over the top performance.  No one ever goes away from Joe’s musical experience without being inspired by the man and his music.

Mark A Herndon, certified professional geologist and professional photographer grew up in Chattanooga area, graduated from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.  He is the Entertainment and Chattanooga cityscape/event photographer affiliated with Chattanoogan.com and contributor to several magazines, venues and Friends of the Festival events.
Email at; MAHerndon@ChattanoogaLiveMusic.com

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