We got to see Joe Bonamassa last night at the Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut!  From the opening notes to the finish two hours and fifteen minutes later, he and his all star touring band cranked out blues rock at a breath taking pace.  There were no stops…no lulls…it was just great performances of songs…one after another.

It was an all electric concert with none of the acoustic selections featured on previous tours.  Drawing mainly from his last two albums, Blues of Desperation and Different Shades of Blue, Joe showed off his talents on a variety of guitars to a packed house of 3,000 fans. Joe is not much of a talker on stage; largely confining himself to introducing the band and thanking the Connecticut audience for supporting him over the 25 years that he had played at various small venues around the state.  And what a band!  Featuring seven members including two back up singers, a two person horn section, Rock Hall of Famer Reese Wynans on keyboards, ten time and current bass player of the year Michael Rhodes, and the master of the skins, Anton Fig on drums.

Besides his own songs, he played hits by Albert King, Freddie King, and his encore was a stellar performance of Hummingbird, a B.B. King tune that was also a hit for Leon Russell (who passed away this past week).  He also did a rousing version of a Led Zeppelin tune, How Many More Times,  that almost brought the house down as he worked his way up and down the frets in an extended solo that would make Jimmy Page proud.

Overall, it was an inspiring performance of electric blues and rock……well worth the price of admission.