Joe Bonamassa – Live at the Sydney opera house

Joe Bonamassa’s new album is out on 25th October. Like many of his previous live releases it’s been recorded at an iconic venue – in this case, the Sydney opera house. In fact I think Joe Bonamassa must have sat down with producer Kevin Shirley at some point and made a list of the most iconic venues in the world and said he wants to make an album at each of them. Certainly it’s a pretty good idea as I’m sure many musicians have dreamed of playing those venues and he’s already released albums recorded in venues including the Red rocks amphitheatre, London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Vienna opera house, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and the Greek theatre in Los Angeles. Of course he hasn’t played in Pompeii yet like Pink Floyd but I’m sure that’s on his wishlist too.

With this being something like his 17th live album some might wonder how he manages to release so many and still have people buy them. Well the answer is simple – he makes sure that every live album is different from the previous ones in terms of what songs he plays. Some of his live albums have paid tribute to past Blues musicians – “Live at the Greek theatre” covered songs from BB King, Albert King and Freddie King, while “Muddy Wolf at red rocks” covered Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters, and “British blues explosion” focused on songs by British blues acts. Other live albums have focussed on whatever his current studio album was, or have done somthing else to make them different. Obviously the live DVDs benefit from even more diversity by having the strikingly different settings too. For that reason Joe’s prolific output doesnt get stale and continues to be welcomed by the fans.

As always it’s a great live release – Joe’s playing is superb and his band and backing singers really are impressive in their own right. This show sees them performing a set baesd largely around the “Blues of desperation” album – of the 9 songs here, seven come from that album.

If you’re a Bonamassa fan then this is another great live album that’s well worth getting.

“Live at the Sydney opera house” will be released on 25th October 2019

Track listing:

1. This train
2. Mountain climbing
3. Drive
4. Love ain’t a love song
5. How deep this river runs
6. Mainline Florida
7. The valley runs low
8. Blues of desperation
9. No place for the lonely