Joe Captivates His Fans
In Argentina

A happy combination of speed and feeling

The North American guitarist, singer and composer captivated at the Luna Park with a demolishing repertoire of blues rock.

The few openings that could be spotted on Friday night at the Luna Park, before Joe Bonamassa and his band would come on stage, were the first evidence that in a year, his index of local popularity –and fanaticism-, grew well enough over the one of the inflation. That’s not little.

And if things were ruled by some virtuous logic, everything indicates that from the moment that those two hours and fifteen minutes during which the guitarist exhibited his arsenal of resources as a musician, singer, composer and North American frontman, leading a demolishing repertoire of blues and rock, the tendency should accelerate notably.

With a head start on an acoustic set, under an intimate climate, with percussion and keyboards –Palm Trees Helicopters and Gasoline, Seagull, Jerry Roll,Athens to Athens and Woke Up Dreaming-, and a finish line in an incandescent final set, with Sloe Gin and The Ballad of John Henry, Bonamassa gave shape to a musical journey that crossed trough different regions –some known and others not so much- of both genres.

In one hand, the hints from influences like Cream, Led Zeppelin, Gary Moore, Jeff Beck and a big chunk of British rock that showed up in his style would come up in passages of the pyrotechnic Woke Up Dreaming, of Moore’s cover of Midnight Blues or in Black Country Communion’s Song of Yesterday –one of his many projects.

On the other hand, a sketching of his own and sanely unpredictable paths through the harmonies of Dust Bowl, during the solos –at 36 years old, Bonamassa achieved a combination of speed, precision and feeling with great maturity- of his Slow Train and Jeff Beck’s cover of Spanish Boots, and in his vocal dexterity.

That one that he brought out when, given the persistent muteness of his microphone, the man asked for silence, fixed volume levels with his band, walked towards the edge of the stage of an expectant Luna Park and started to unravel each phrase from the first half of the furious Story of a Quarryman, to an auditorium that responded the proper way: Ladies and Gentlemen, stand.

Everything, with a balanced dose between exhibitionism for the fans and specialists, and the care for the song itself, which was made evident in themes likeDriving Towards the Daylight, Mountain Time or Someday After a While(comparisons with the original Freddie King version or with Clapton’s, overruled).

Always supported by a trio of musicians of enormous versatility –Carmine Rojas in the bass, Tal Bergman in the drums and Derek Sherinian in the keyboard- that makes everything all right. And that contributes big time so Bonamassa can showcase his talent, which still seems to be far from reaching his ceiling.

View Pictures from Joe’s South American tour

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