Mountain Time

Joe Bonamassa is - in my opinion, anyway - one of the great blues guitarists. His idols and influences are the British blues bands and guitarists of the sixties so he has been touring regularly in the U.K. for the last twenty years. We first saw him at the (now long gone) Morecambe Dome in about 2005 when the audience was only a handful of aficionados. We have seen him regularly since, with the venues - and audiences - growing in size as his popularity grew. Having previously seen him at places like Blackpool Opera House and the Royal Albert Hall, last night was in the more modern confines of Leeds Arena. This was the eighth time we’d seen him but it was a very different show to previous ones.
With Covid cancelling a couple of planned tours, we’d not seen him for a few years, but there had been a couple of new albums in the meantime. Naturally, material from these formed the bulk of the set, but sounded a little unfamiliar to our ears. A few fan favourites though, including the final number “Mountain Time”, which he says is consistently voted a favourite by U.K. audiences.
The other “change” was that he’d ditched the horn and percussion sections that previously made up the band, in favour of a second guitarist and some backing singers. Reese Wynans (ex Stevie Ray Vaughan) on keys was still firmly ensconced though, and played an absolute storm. Not bad for a someone in his mid 70s!
Overall, a brilliant concert with some incredible guitar playing from Mr Bonamassa. We had good seats and the Arena was only a ten minute walk from the hotel. Didn’t have the best end to the day though when the fire alarm went off just as we were getting into bed. Fortunately it was called as a false alarm before we got more than halfway down the stairs.