Joe Bonamassa Live From The Royal Albert Hall[Blu-Ray Disc]

Joe Bonamassa is an incredible talent. The whole band is really great. And I love the energy of live concerts. That said, this product was dissppointing. My blu-ray player (Sony) said the color system was not compatible with the player. So I hooked up my external DVD player to my laptop (Lenovo), and it played the disks alright, but both the video and sound quality are not up to a standard typical of commercial DVDs.

I have kind of come into Joe Bonamassa backwards as far as owning any of his work. Having watched a ton of him on You Tube from playing with Danny Gatton at 12 years old to Bloodline (those young guys were really good and talented, especially young Joey!) and up to this current "RAH" DVD concert. In fact this "Royal Albert Hall" DVD was the first purchase for me and since have purchased the "Blues Deluxe" CD and "Rockpalast" DVD. The "Rockpalast" DVD is exceptionally good and the not so good camera work did not bother me all that much just because Joe's Trio is really cookin' all the way threw from beginning to end. From what I can hear and see he pretty much brings and delivers every time when he plays live. As he has said "I am an entertainer and basically want to give the paying audience their monies worth." After hearing the intro to the song "Blues Deluxe", that pretty much got me hooked since I am such a blues nut! He just played here in my local area at a small venue this past week for 2 nights in a row and unfortunately I was not able go catch his act. At least I have the DVD's to watch and enjoy.Okay, having said all that, this "RAH" DVD is so enjoyable to watch from beginning to end. Currently I think Joe is trying to take his music to a little different area of sophistication for lack of a better word. This dude has done the blazing trio thing (ie: "Rockpalast" DVD) for quite awhile up until this newer band with 3 horn players, a keyboard player and 2 drummers creating a totally different dimension. We have to realize and remember Joe isn't really all that old being the ripe old age of 32.This "RAH" concert was a 20 year dream for him to play this venue and also to play the tune "Further On Up The Road" with Clapton being one of his early mentors. When I first heard Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood" album back in 1983, and SRV was only around 28 or 29 at that time, man I thought this guy was God sent with the blues taking such a back seat with all the crap music back then. The late SRV's music career just took off after that and myself becoming a huge fan like all the other many blues fans out there. I am not trying to compare the late great SRV to JB so much in musical styles or whatever, though JB has and can hit that vibe shockingly well from his early age to say the least, but in a way I also think Joe is sort of God sent if there is such a thing.Bonamassa comes off as a real nice guy and has the gift, talent and energy with what he shows in his guitar playing and singing. He seems to be the sum of so many great past and present guitar players out there and still searching to find his own voice and groove. That almost sounds like an oxymoron with what he has already accomplished. I am sure we will see many sides of his talents as the years go bye and he sure has gotten my attention with his blues based style. He's a natural as that old saying goes. In closing, the last encore song "Asking Around For You" with horn arrangements etc.....for me it just doesn't get any better than that! Superbly done and what a nice way to end the night of great music.

To get this out of the way, I don't rate musical concerts 5 stars willy nilly. I own more than 60 concerts on DVD because my favorite thing to do on my days off when the wife's at work and my son is at daycare for his 3 hours is to take the volume of my AVM20 to around -14 db and listen to good music. SACD and DVD-audio have a place in my collection, but there's nothing like watching a good performance when the musicians are on fire and the performance is excellent.This is one of those concerts where the band was there to play a great concert for the fans, and they accomplished.From listening to the brief background documentary on Joe at the beginning of both discs (A nice touch, and not overdone), it has been Joe's dream to play the Royal Albert Hall for many years. This is a venue where many greats in music have played to countless thousands of audience members. Joe stands tall among those great players (Clapton, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Zepplin, and countless others.), and he certainly serves up one heck of a performance.Joe is a fantastic player, and wholey underappreciated on the music scene. Born, I believe, the same hear as Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Joe is one of a small handful of prodigy guitar players that have been popular over the last decade, but two differences are evident: Joe Bonamassa isn't a household name like the others, but Joe will be playing for audiences for the foreseable future because he is simply a spectacular performer and the fans want to hear him play.You've heard Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd on the radio, but have you heard Joe on the local airwaves? Amazingly the answer for me was 'no', and in my opinion as a musician myself, he is a better player than both Jonny and Kenny. I guess his agent just doesn't have the same connections, or that Joe's desire is simply to perform at his best playing the songs he wants to perform, instead of selling-out to a record label.You won't typically find a Joe Bonamassa cd or DVD at your local Best Buy, and this is a shame. I only heard of him through Amazon because his style is similar to other bands I enjoy. I can't thank the little "Customers who bought this item also bought" banner on Amazon enough. It has turned me on to a lot of music and musicians that I would have otherwise not heard.If you're a fan of blues and great guitar playing, don't pass up this DVD. Here's hoping I can see Joe play live in the next couple of years. In the meantime, when I need a fix of great music I'll put Joe Bonamassa Live From Royal Albert Hall in the DVD player and turn the volume up to concert levels. Simply Great stuff.A player who is already a legend to his fans, and who will be a legend to the masses when enough of his fans tell other's about his talent as a musician. Count me as one of his newest fans.....Update: Still the go to DVD concert for a lot of my get-togethers. I've now seen Joe in concert twice. It only makes me like this DVD that much more. I only wish that he would release footage of his acoustic improv!