Just got back from a concert of Bonamassa's at State Theatre of Ithaca. It was a rock/pop concert and I was so inspired by his brilliance in his guitar playing, voice and the collaboration with other musicians. Bonamassa is from Utica New York. He started his career there and continued in Europe for more than a decade. He finally returned to Ithaca today and rocked the stage with standing ovation.
Before I went to the concert, I checked him out online. His amazing guitar playing was recognized when he was playing Led Zeppelin's exciting and precise solo parts. I was so thrilled to hear it live by the end of the concert. Mr. Bonamassa's gift is not only about his guitar playing, singing but also about his interaction with the band members and the audience. He definitely had the crowd gone absolutely wild tonight. I was extra amused when there was a duel scene going between Joe and Tal. Phrases after and Joe reached an unstoppable climax, Tal replied with a few gentle rubs on the cymbals. It looked so comical, and my also unstoppable laugh turned into a scream. I appreciated the sense of humor deeply.
His sense of humor also came out when he said, "this song almost became a hit!" His composition reminded me of operas a lot, simple words and meaningful ornaments. You get to hear true feelings from his voice from the guitar and vocal chords. The control he has with his guitar is just extraordinary. The incredible scale of volume, velocity, speed and sudden silence drove the musical event into a breathe taking drama. The beauty of his composition showed the most to me is from the third to the last song in the concert.(the original ending song) I heard a hit right there. All we need is a movie to go with it!
The sound system in the concert wasn't really to my liking. It felt like everything was all the way up except the keyboard for the whole time. It was so loud that I couldn't hear the crowd cheering and screaming right next to me when the musicians were playing. It was exactly like in an opera, when Joe was singing on the middle and lower registrar, the volume of the rest needed to be lower. When the registrars were far away from each other, people would be able to hear every instrument. Because of the reason, I loved Joe's quieter songs more in general because I could actually hear what he was singing.
Again, "less is more". For me, a lot of time, it's the pianissimo which gets me instead of the fortissimo. It was also the reason I laughed so hard when Tal rubbed the cymbals during the duel.
One other observation from the concert might be just my imagination. I saw a weird dynamic between Joe and Rick(the keyboard player). First, the set up of the stage made Rick stand alone on the left. And throughout the concert, Joe interacted with Tal and Carmine very often but I never saw Joe interacting with Rick. The only time I saw Joe walking toward to Rick and kind of gesturing something was after a sudden cut-off in which Rick's sound was was still hanging there alone. It made me feel that the reason Joe walked to Rick at that moment was to tell him to watch out. Other than that, there was a moment, when Joe was singing a bunch of high and expressive ornaments, Rick all of a sudden turned around and took the attention away from Joe(At least, Rick got my attention when he did that). In the operas, we are trained that no one should do any big movements to steal other's marvelous moment. By putting all these together with my crazy imagination, I suspect some interesting story between these two.
Another unbelievable achievement was that Mr. Bonamassa didn't have an intermission during the entire show(for more than two hours). We all witnessed him singing/playing on stage for the whole time. There was not a single second of "checking out". The intensity got everyone in the space glued together from the beginning to the end. Bravo, Joe, for your incredible stamina.
After all the words, I have to say that I never thought I could be so blown away by Rock/Pop music. Mr. Bonamassa definitely gained my highest respect and appreciation. I will keep my eye on him and look forward to his performances in the future. I have to thank many friends for getting us there. It was an unforgettable night and I was honored to be part of it.
