PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
In March this year Joe Bonamassa played four special shows in four nights in London. Each night was at a different venue and with a completely different setlist. Each night had a different theme – the Shepherds Bush Empire show was the Blues night, the Hammersmith Apollo show was the rock and roll night, the Royal Albert Hall show was an acoustic night, and the Borderline show was a Power Trio Jam. Over the course of these shows Joe Bonamasa played a huge range of tracks including some he either rarely plays live or has never played live.
Now, the shows are all being released on DVD (and BluRay). Each show is available separately, or you can buy the very impressive looking Collector’s Box Set containing all four shows, along with a hardcover photo book of photos from that week in London, all packaged together inside a box designed as a miniature vintage Marshall amp.
As well as the concerts themselves, each disc comes with bonus material with backstage footage, interviews, rehearsal footage and more – around an hour or more of bonus content per disc. That’s pretty good going, and it gives a fascinating insight into the run of shows and much more. I found some of the interviews really interesting, and the bonus content is certainly well worth watching.
With the concerts, the sound and video quality is of course great as you’d expect – and that’s just on the DVD that I’ve watched, so I can imagine the Bluray version is going to be even more impressive. The shows are all captured from different angles using multiple cameras and the editing is well done making it a pleasure to watch.
I can see a lot of fans wanting to buy the DVD of the show they attended (all four for the lucky few who managed to attend them all), and I’ll certainly be buying the Hammersmith Apollo show Bluray as that’s the show I attended, but I’ll also be going for the Shepherds Bush one too as the Blues night sounded great. In fact it’s tempting to get all four (either separately or as part of that lovely box set) for the simple reason that each is very different from the others – different setlist, different bands and a different feel for each, so there’s no real duplication. The Albert Hall setlist includes quite a few songs from the other nights but as they are acoustic compared to the other versions which are electric then they sound very different. If you can afford it then I’d certainly recommend going for all four discs – that way you get all four concerts plus a load of bonus material to watch which should be enough to keep even the most avid fan occupied for some time.
Track listings:
The Borderline:
Albion (Intro)
I know where I belong
Spanish boots
Your funeral my trial
Blues deluxe
Pain and sorrow
Happier times
Steal your heart away
Miss you, hate you
The river
Burning Hell
Don’t burn down that bridge
Story of a quarryman
Are you experienced?
Worlds end (credits)
Shepherds Bush Empire:
Albion (Intro)
Slow train
So it’s like that
Midnight blues
Last kiss
So many roads
You better watch yourself
Chains & things
Lonesome road blues
Stop!
I got all you need
The great flood
The ballad of John Henry
Asking around for you
Further on up the road
Worlds end (credits)
Hammersmith Apollo:
Albion (Intro)
Seagull
Jelly roll
Richmond
Athens to Athens
Woke up dreaming
Cradle rock
When the fire hits the sea
Dustbowl
Dislocated boy
Driving towards the daylight
Who’s been talking
Jockey full of bourbon
Tea for one
Lonesome road blues
Sloe gin
Just got paid
Worlds end (credits)
Royal Albert Hall:
Albion (Intro)
Palm trees, helicopters adn gasoline
Seagull
Jelly roll
Black lung heartache
Around the bend
Jockey full of bourbon
From the valley
Athens to Athens
Slow train
Last kiss
Dustbowl
Midnight blues
Who’s been talking
Happier times
Driving towards the daylight
The ballad of John Henry
Django
Mountain time
Sloe gin
Just got paid
Worlds end (credits)
