One Riff To Rule Them All...

Let's set our way-back-when machine to Friday 17 April 2009 shall we...


Being a Friday night, by all rights I should have been out on the town getting absolutely wasted, or at least been at the pub with my mates. 
As it turns out I was doing neither of those things. I don't remember why, maybe I just didn't feel like going out that night.


Instead, I found myself watching Later...With Jools Holland, which is a brilliant showcase of musical talent that I don't really get around to see enough of.
It was a good night to watch as well. Doves, one of my favourite bands at the time were on, as were Marianne Faithfull, the Noisettes, and Grandmaster Flash. That's enough reason for anyone to tune in.


The programme was ticking along nicely in the background while I did bits and pieces, and I was enjoying discovering Madeleine Peyroux for the first time. And then, after she had finished playing River of Tears, Jools uttered these now immortal (to me) words:
"Now, I'm going to drop a name here because he's one of the great guitarists of all time, Eric Clapton.
He said to me 'There is this amazing guitarist, you've GOT to hear him.' Well I'm going to say the same thing to you, and I'm going to invite you to do that now. Please welcome the amazing guitarist Mr. Joe Bonamassa!"


Jools then sat down behind the piano to join in with the moment my musical world was turned upside down.


Now at this point I should say that over the few years prior to this I'd been growing more and more disillusioned with the state of the music scene in general. 
I'm a HUGE fan of people who can get out there, play their own instruments, write their own songs, and preferably do both at the same time. 
The influx of more and more manufactured groups and people with great voices singing songs they probably never dreamed of writing was starting to depress me. I longed for the days (that I sadly never saw) when the likes of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream were at the forefront of everyone's musical conscious. 


But those days were long gone. People now were happy to listen to manufactured Pop, increasingly ridiculous Rap/Hip-Hop, and generic American Indie Rock weren't they? There weren't any really talented musicians left in the world were there?


And then Lonesome Road Blues hit me right between the temples.


The very next day I was in HMV earlier than I've ever been in my life to buy the album "The Ballad of John Henry" on the strength of that one song. And with the other 9 studio albums he has released now firmly in my collection I'm no less in awe of him as a musician.


Fast forward to last night at 19:30, and I'm sitting in the Brighton Centre with my friend Chelle who I converted to Joe VERY quickly. 
Iron Maiden's "2 Minutes To Midnight" is blasting through the room.
We've been in this position before, at the end of last year we were sat in the Hammersmith Apollo. 
That night was our first experience of Joe live, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it left me stunned. 
His albums are works of art, as close to musical genius as there's ever been in my opinion. But the live experience, well that was just on a completely different level. 


The way he manipulates the guitar is like nothing I've ever seen before in my life. He switches from Blues, to Rock, and back again between songs, even during them with immaculate ease. And just for good measure he'll throw in a 10+ minute acoustic solo performance that I'll never see bettered in my lifetime.


I cannot over-emphasise just how much you need to take the extra 15 minutes of your time to click through to the links of the two songs I've included in this blog. If you love music in the way that I do, you can't help but love him instantly, and you'll have a tiny fraction of the feeling of anticipation and excitement that I felt last night.


The last wails of Bruce Dickinson disappeared from the Brighton Centre. 
And the lights went out...