The latest live DVD from blues rock guitar virtuoso Bonamassa is a two and a half hour, double dvd, concert film extravaganza.
Following  Joe Bonamassa’s live recordings at legendary venues, like the Royal Albert Hall and the Beacon Theater, Joe’s latest offering was recorded in the beautiful surroundings of the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado. This is his largest live show to date with a capacity crowd of 9,000 fans in attendance.
The DVD sees Bonamassa travel down to the Mississippi Delta to trace the roots of his heroes, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, to experience what it was about the place that produced such incredible blues artists. Joe pays homage to those greats with his latest project, The Muddy Wolf Band, in concert at Red Rocks.
Unlike Joe’s regular band, Muddy Wolf is a much larger project with an incredible big band sound and everyone gets their chance to shine. The band features Anton Fig (drums), Michael Rhodes (bass), Reese Wynans (piano, Hammond organ), Lee Thornburg (trumpet, horn arrangements), Ron Dziubla (saxophone), Nick Lane (trombone), Mike Henderson (harmonica), and Kirk Fletcher (guitar).
The DVD is interspersed with footage of the greats in question, and shows Bonamassa playing a selection of tracks made famous by Muddy Waters during the first part of the show, such as the up tempo “Tiger In Your Tank,” a spellbinding rendition of “You Shook Me,” and “Double Trouble.” Joe as always demonstrates his incredible technique and control, it’s almost as if his Les Paul becomes an extension of his body. The man is in a league of his own.
In the second half of the show Joe pays tribute to the great Howlin’ Wolf, with numbers such as the funky “Shake For Me” and a superb, wah infused rendition of “Spoonful,” before bringing their main set to a close with “All Night Boogie.”
Of course the show would not be complete without some of Bonamassa’s greatest hits like, “Sloe Gin” and “Ballad of John Henry” to close out the performance.
It’s fair to say we live in hope that some day the Muddy Wolf Band makes a trip over the pond to the UK, but for now we look forward to getting a Bonamassa fix at Joe’s upcoming London shows in March and an impending UK winter arena tour.
Joe Bonamassa Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks will be released on DVD, Blu-Ray, vinyl and cd on March 23 in the UK.
Joe Bonamassa
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Photo Credit:© Christie Goodwin
