Our man Joe
As the final, final part of Mrs. WTDP?’s Christmas, I was able to snag front row tickets to Joe Bonamassa – currently her favorite guitarist. The show was last Friday and it was phenomenal… an endless parade of vintage Gibson and Ernie Ball guitars being wrung dry of all the rock and blues Joe could conjure from them – and that, as it turns out, is quite a bit. He opened the show with ‘The Ballad of John Henry’ played through a sexy double neck Ernie with the top being a baritone guitar. Joe is touring on his very recently released album Black Rock. Check out some pics from the show after the jump!
Bonamassa didn’t mess around from the get-go. We knew we were in for a treat even before Joe hit the stage. His pre-stage intro song of choice? …Iron Maiden’s Two Minutes To Midnight! Starting promptly at 8pm, he marched through a third of the set before briefly engaging the packed crowd at the Stafford Centre. He only played two songs off his new album, the original Zeppelin-esque rocker ‘Blue and Evil’ and his version of ‘Bird On A Wire’. One of the many highlights from the show was Joe being joined on stage by long-time friend – of both him and WTDP? – Wally Farkas (ex-Galactic Cowboys) and dUg Pinnick (King’s X) for a ripping version of Hendrix’s ‘Manic Depression’. He closed the show with a mash-up of classic rock tunes including ZZ Top’s ‘Just Got Paid’ as well as riffs from Gov’t Mule and Led Zeppelin.
Gear-wise, it did not look to us that much has changed in his rig lately. He still uses four heads – Carol Ann, Van Weedlen, Category 5 and Marshall – running through two, four-speaker Category 5 cabs. His pedalboard had a Boss TU-2, Way Huge Pork Loin, his modified Fuzz Face, Supa-Trem, modified Cry Baby wah and a Lehle amp switcher. He also had a Moog Theremin on stage, which he used during ‘The Ballad of John Henry’ and the finale montage.
Check out the pics below for gear/guitar shots galore!
