Sloe Gin

I first heard the music of Joe Bonamassa nearly twenty years ago. He was - and still is - one of the finest blues guitarists I’ve come across. Back in the day he was playing the likes of Kendal’s Brewery Arts Centre and the Morecambe Dome, but it wasn’t long before he was playing arenas and the RAH. Tonight was at the Liverpool Arena. Weirdly, we had tickets for almost exactly the same seats we were in tonight, back in April 2020. But, obviously, that gig did not take place due to Covid! So, you could say that tonight was making up for that missed gig, although we did see him in Leeds in 2023.
And Mr B did not disappoint. A solid two hours of blues rock, mainly from his later albums. Some absolutely sublime soloing, all the while backed by a brilliant band of musicians and backing vocalists. I’m fairly certain this is a new band, though Reese Wynans (ex Stevie Ray Vaughan) was in his usual place at the keyboards.
And then, for the icing on the cake, a 15 minute encore of the song that started it all for me - Sloe Gin.
A superb evening, just the small matter of getting back to Kendal now. Hopefully, with a quiet motorway, we can be back and in our beds by 1.30am…

P.S. apologies for poor picture quality - we were sat quite far back and there wasn’t a lot of stage lighting!