Joe Bonamasa Live At Radio City Music Hall 2015 (CD + BLU-RAY)

(Mascot Music) 33 tracks, CD + Blu-ray disc in slipcase

14 live albums are not one too many

Joe Bonamassa is a live musician through and through. This is shown by the fact that the blues rocker has released 13 live albums, almost as many as studio albums. Nevertheless, "Live At Radio City Music Hall", number 14 on the list, is also a completely new album and cannot be compared with its predecessors.

As the name already announces, Joe Bonamassa guested for it on two consecutive evenings in January 2015 at Radio City Music Hall in New York - a special place for the guitarist, who himself is a New Yorker and recently described the concert hall as the most beautiful in the world. Before him, renowned artists such as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Ray Charles, B.B. King and Stevie Wonder had already played there - so it was the right location for the finale of his one-and-a-half-year world tour and the recording of his concerts.

Around 10,000 spectators were there live when the musician performed many of his hits such as "Different Shades Of Blue" or "Happier Times" and some cover songs, for example "Hey Baby" by Jimi Hendrix and "I Can't Be Satisfied" by Muddy Waters. In addition, Bonamassa presented two brand new songs, "Still Water" and "One Less Cross To Bear."

The concerts on both evenings consisted of two halves: one acoustic and one electrically amplified. The musician performed the former of the two together with the band The Huckleberries. Violinist Gerry O'Connor, keyboardist Reese Wynans, percussionist Lenny Castro and Mats Wester on key fiddle and mandolin had already accompanied Bonamassa at his "Acoustic Evening At The Vienna Opera House" (2012). The second part of the evening was played by bassist Carmine Rojas, keyboardist Reese Wynans, drummer Tal Bergman, trumpeter Lee Thornburg, trombonist Nick Lane and saxophonist Paulie Cerra, Bonamassa's regular touring band alongside the guitarist.

"Live At Radio City Music Hall" is a recording of these special performances. More than two and a half hours of live shows are offered on the CD and DVD or CD and Blu-ray, including seven tracks that have never before been released as live versions. There is also a 45-minute behind-the-scenes special and a 40-page accompanying booklet. The sound recordings are also still available as a double LP.

Joe Bonamassa simply has it: the blues. On January 23 and 24, 2015 he proved it to the audience in his hometown New York, with "Live At Radio City Music Hall" he proves it to us.