If I’m honest, I’ve been a tad sceptical over live streaming as it carries the bittersweet realisation that yes, this is the norm for the time being. However, as the pandemic has continued unabated it has become clear that, if live music is to continue in any form, then artists and fans need live streaming more than ever. The artists (venues and support staff) because it helps to keep them alive, and the fans because it helps them to feel alive.
Ideally suited to the live stream, one of the great aspects of Bonamassa’s myriad live DVDs is that the music is so fresh and vital that the viewer finds themselves transported outside of the everyday and, for 90 glorious minutes, there’s just the blues. Shorn of spectacle, and with one of the best live bands on the planet (as Joe frequently, and accurately, asserts from the stage) it seems that if any major artist can make a live stream work, it is Joe Bonamassa and, for added exclusivity, this particular event sees Joe airing tracks from the hotly anticipated Royal Tea.
An audience-free gig is a strange experience, to be sure. Following a brief, goofy shot of Joe’s Sgt Pepper audience, the band kick off with One Door opens, the lead track from Royal Tea, and straight away it’s a very different Bonamassa sound. Caught between John Barry and Pink Floyd, it builds beautifully before Joe unleashes an epic riff that must be pulverising in the flesh. It makes the silence that greets it feel all the more incongruous and, despite the typically brilliant performance, there’s a feeling amidst the first couple of numbers that the band are finding it harder than they thought adjusting to the total absence of audience feedback. Nevertheless, as Joe leads his band into the toughened blues of the title track, you can feel things slip into place and, by the time we hit an absolutely blistering Look Out Man, the band are in their element. With Jimmy Hall (Wet Willie) guesting on harmonica, the band hit a hard rock home run and, if you’re not swept up in the blazing bravado of it all, then you’re in the wrong place.
Joe unveils Why Does It Take So Long next. A slower, deeper blues, it sees Joe conclude a lovely Floyd-esque build with a truly monumental solo. It contrasts neatly with the bouncy A Conversation With Alice, which sounds as fresh in performance as it did when Joe dropped it as a surprise single back in April.
Never a chatty performer at the best of times, Joe still takes a moment to speak to the home audience. Referencing the silence between songs (bearing in mind that the sizable crew could have provided a decent round of applause if it had been required), Joe explains that he wanted to capture a snapshot of this specific time, the silence being an integral part of the discomfort we’re all feeling and, in giving voice to this, it no longer seems so unsettling. We then get the brilliantly Cream-y I Didn’t Think She’d Do It and the sympathetic blues of Beyond The Silence (the latter featuring some superb lead work from guitarist Rob McNelly), before the first half concludes with the cabaret shuffle of Lonely Boy, Reese Wynans going to town on the keys as the band trade grins in the dark.
The encore is worth the price of admission alone, as it sees Joe conducting his band on a lightning tour of his early years. Rory Gallagher’s Cradle Rock is given a belligerent make over, the band unleashing a punky fury that feels like all the pent-up angst from the performance coming out in one ferocious blast. It’s let down slightly when Joe’s guitar slips out of tune in the heat of the moment, but the sheer weight of the performance redeems things. If Walk In My Shadow is a calmer piece, it’s only to allow the band to draw breath before unleashing Evil Mama, a towering highlight from Redemption, before Jethro Tull’s A New Day Yesterday (ironically introduced as a ballad) gets a hyper gritty work over that brings the show to a tumultuous close.
Whilst this live event may have lacked the polish of Joe’s DVD releases, the spontaneity of the performance, the warts ‘n’ all presentation (this is rock ‘n’ roll after all) and the inspired material from Royal Tea (already shaping up to be one of the albums of the year) made this a special event nonetheless. Factor in that a portion of the proceeds is headed to Joe’s Fuelling Musician’s programme, and there is every reason to purchase a ticket and check out the stream, which will remain up for seven more days. Whilst it’s hard to imagine this being a sustainable replacement for live music, Joe’s heartfelt performance succeeded in taking the edge off what has been an awfully long break, and there’s no doubting at all the untrammelled power of a Joe Bonamassa live performance, even in an empty room. 8.5
Joe Bonamassa’s new album “Royal Tea” is released by Provogue/Mascot Label Group on Friday October 23rd.
Pre-order the album from – www.mascotlabelgroup.com/Joe-Bonamassa-announces-new-studio-album-Royal-Tea-Pre-order-now
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