The greatest living bluesman pay homage as only he can
There’s a really interesting and revealing section at the start of this wonderful DVD.
On local TV in the 1990s there’s a feature on a 12-year-old kid who is wowing everyone in his native New York. He’s already opened for BB King at this point, by the way. You know, just like MV was doing when we were 12, in between listening to Bon Jovi and wondering why Dawn Hughes wouldn’t go to the cinema with us, obviously.
Fast forward nearly 30 years and that 12-year-old kid, is playing BB King’s “Let The Good Times Roll” with some of the most incredible musicians on the planet and in front of 5,000 fans at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre.
That, right there, is what makes the Joe Bonamassa story so very, very special. He always had all the talent in the world, now he’s the best at what he does on the planet, and moreover, he is one of the greatest exponents of blues history we have.
It’s as though he has two careers. The solo stuff – and by the way “Blues Of Desperation”, the record he released this year is probably his best – but also he does a kind of tribute act. Not in the bullshit hackneyed way of some clown doing a Phil Lynott impression with a band called Bizzy Lizzy or some such godawful thing, but rather, he pays homage.
So following on from the Muddy Waters stuff last year, and the British Blues Explosion stuff this, comes The Three Kings tour, where Joe and his 11 piece band included Anton Fig (drums), Kirk Fletcher (guitar), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond organ), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, horn arrangements), Paulie Cerra (saxophone), Nick Lane (trombone), and a trio of backup singers including Mahalia Barnes, Jade MacRae, and Juanita Tippins, do justice to the wonderful work of Albert King, B.B. King and Freddie King.
The result is this. A beautifully shot, mammoth 22 song trawl through some of the greatest blues songs you are ever going to hear. Frankly, its incredible from start to finish and picking a highlight is nigh on impossible, but as always JB doesn’t just go for the hits, so for every “Going Down” there’s something more obscure around the corner.
His and the band’s playing is exemplary and the sheer enjoyment of the evening comes shining through on the DVD. If concert DVDs can be sterile, that is most definitely not the case here, and even watching on a screen there is a palpable crackle about “I’ll Play The Blues For You” and the almost ragtime prohibition era swing of “Ole Time Religion” which show the two sides of this incredible artist better than anything.
Blues standards like “Born Under A Bad Sign” are lovingly recreated yes, but also given the trademark stamp and by the time “Running With The Kings” has scarpered from view you are left wishing that you too were one of the 5000 in the audience for a special night.
A night, of course made all the more poignant by the passing of BB King just a few months before the tour. Bonamassa has said that it remains his one regret that his mentor died without seeing it. This DVD is ample proof, though, that the music he – and the other three kings – made will never die.
Rating 10/10
