The ruler of 400 guitars lands on the Schlossplatz. Joe Bonamassa, born in 1977, is the current superstar of the blues-rock scene. He is a true workhorse and often produces multiple albums annually.
Thirteen of his albums have reached number one on the Billboard charts, and he is also a true “guitar fetishist” and perfectionist. His impressive instrument collection includes an estimated four hundred guitars with the corresponding number of matching amplifiers.
No wonder, considering his father owned a guitar shop where renowned musicians bought their instruments. Thus, young Joe had early contact with the stars of the blues and rock scene.
At the age of four, he began playing the six-string guitar on a custom-made Chiquita guitar (a small, handy guitar for children), until he switched to a regular guitar at the age of seven. From an early age, his father played recordings of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and other blues greats for him, which had a lasting impact on the young Bonamassa.
At the age of eleven, he received lessons from Danny Gatton, an American guitar legend, and by the age of twelve, he was already on stage as the opening act for B.B. King. Fender Guitars took notice and invited him to showcase his Fender guitar skills at several events.
To this day, the Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars are his favorite models, as was the case this evening. These are two of a whopping eleven guitars that Bonamassa will be presenting on stage this time. A good 7,000 fans paid homage to the “guitar god” in the packed courtyard of Stuttgart Castle.
Off into the old-school blues-rock time capsule. If it weren’t for the hundreds of cell phones filming, you’d think you’d taken a trip into the past in a time capsule.
Five musicians on their instruments, no frills, no stage decorations, plus two backup singers who initially just smile and swing their hips in sync, but later on, they also sing incredibly well.
Bonamassa wears sunglasses and a simple suit, and you immediately notice that this evening is all about the music and nothing else. Handmade, honest, and virtuosic, the band starts right off with a hard rock track at the beginning of the setlist, followed by the anthemic desert rock piece “Dust Bowl.”
It’s breathtaking how his fingers fly over the strings again this evening as he unleashes his solos, and there are quite a few. The band takes its time, gives itself the necessary space, and builds towards climaxes, a musical blues-rock journey in intervals, beyond four-minute pop. By the end of the evening, there are 12 songs in two hours.
The sporty version of guitar playing. Sometimes it’s like a sporting competition, the sheer fascination with the aesthetics of high speed, the mastery of finger movements and precision. In short: it’s the perfect technique that Joe Bonamassa presents on his instrument that fascinates.
But fans with an affinity for blues rock find this exciting, even though many of the solos have a similar structure. The band spreads the musical carpet at a very high level, and Bonamassa races up and down the fretboard.
But there are certainly those artistic “goosebumps moments,” such as in the epic piece “The Last Matador of Bayonne,” where the guitarist artfully plays with the volume, causing the notes to gently swing in and out.
Emotional pulling and plucking on the strings make their way into the listeners’ ear canals and send a shiver down their spine in a positive sense. You can feel that the soul is involved, despite the perfected and rapid guitar playing.
The best moments, however, are when the band launches into action together, when the backing singers step forward at Bonamassa’s call of “Come on ladies,” and soulfully blast the blues into the castle courtyard.
When legendary organist Reese Wynans, who, like Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s drummer, was also a member of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble, gets the chance to belt out a magnificent solo on his Hammond organ, the blues train sweeps over the entire audience with wonderful force.
Joe Bonamassa (git, voc)
Josh Smith (git)
Reese Wynans (keys)
Calvin Turner (bass)
Lemar Carter (drums)
Jade McCray (voc)
Danielle DeAndrea (voc)
