Label: Provogue Records / Mascot Label Group
Release date: June 11, 2021
Production: Kevin Shirley
Genre: Blues Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
Joe Bonamassa! It wasn’t that long ago that he shot up like a meteor to become one of the most successful ambassadors of the blues-rock revival worldwide. In fact, across every variety and shade of the blues. The post-millennial rock’n’roll scene was bleeding for a musician like him. Just like progressive rock needed a fresh blood transfusion when Steven Wilson showed up (for contrast). Not so much in a musical sense as in the sense of putting the doctrine of the blues back in front of the masses.
Well, ‘Smokin Joe’, now in his mid-forties, put out his first album in 2000, and in just twenty years he’s lined up a whopping 14 of them. Alongside those, his career comes with an equally long, if not slightly longer, list of live albums. Every studio album is, as a rule, followed by a live one.
Last October, Joe released the album “Royal Tea” (RockLine review), a sort of tribute to the 1960s, when the “white blues boom” was shaking up the top of the charts. The album radiates the extraordinary maturity and refinement of this musician. Recorded in the legendary Abbey Road studio, it follows, down to every minimalist detail, the recording methods of a not-so-distant chapter of rock’n’roll history, one that marks the time of its heyday. The days of pioneering and innovation.
And then came Covid-19, and Joe wasn’t the only one who still can’t get back on stage to play shows the way he used to. In fully packed venues. “Royal Tea,” long since recorded by the time the pandemic and lockdown maneuvers hit, was promoted by Joe with an online performance. What does that mean? That he played with his backing crew in front of a completely empty The Ryman Auditorium. The date was September 20, 2020. A good month still remained until the official release of “Royal Tea.” And the energy and vibe of the album’s tracks that day speak to you quite differently than on the record. Not just because of the setting and circumstances in which the album is played (only the song Savannah is missing), but above all because of an approach that offers alternations the studio versions of the same songs don’t have. That is, as expected, the biggest charm of the live album “Now Serving: Royal Tea Live From The Ryman,” where the seats were dotted with cardboard cutouts of audience members and where Joe was sentenced to dead silence after the end of every song in the set. In those gaps between songs he was condemned to listen to the echo of footsteps, coming either from his lacquered shoes or from the members of his band. Pretty grotesque stuff. But that’s how it was. Still, none of that robbed the crew of their fire and drive, or the heart in their interpretations.
Despite the cruelty of playing live without an audience being allowed in, the performance feels close to perfect, if not downright perfect. Bonamassa’s guitar sound is much gnarlier, thicker, more voluminous and above all louder live than in the studio, overdriven and fat as butter. That was expected, and it’s no different this time. The man doesn’t hold back. And the soloing remains poetry, played with an incredibly full-blooded feel. The vocal progress radiating from the interpretation of the live set is unexpected. The band’s tightness and cohesion are stunning too. Joe Bonamassa’s devoted fans will buy the album without a second thought, especially the ones who have to own everything with the words Joe and Bonamassa on it. This album is unique too, in the sense that no future show by this musician will offer a set like this. It’s a pleasure just to witness the zeal and passion pouring out of the performance of this material. The mileage, the routine, the experience are phenomenal. So the empty hall doesn’t take a single essential quality away from this recording.
Anyone who watched the show on September 20, 2020, and even more so anyone who watched the DVD, will notice there’s narration there from the actor Jeff Daniels. This time we’re faced with cuts that fade out under an artificially added recording (effect) of crowd noise at the end of each song, which is supposed to underline the “missing” feeling of a real concert. A show that came across more like a public rehearsal. But right now that’s what every performer in the world is facing. And what a public rehearsal it is! Mind-blowing.
“Now Serving: Royal Tea Live From The Ryman” comes from a venue Bonamassa loves dearly, where, as he puts it, he has played eight and a half times. The half is exactly this somewhat bizarre, adapted show, played in isolation but with a direct online stream. However you slice it, Bonamassa remains brilliant. In every touch, every magical finesse, in everything he has spoiled us with over the years and keeps spoiling us with. What sets him apart is that incredible loudness, almost roughness, yet unbelievable cleanness and fluidity, no matter how fast he goes in his solos. That’s his style. His trademark. The soulful character he breathes into the songs. And those heavenly bends that give you goosebumps. Fascinating. Once again. In all its glory. At the same time, it has to be said that he’s an excellent vocalist, and that leap has been especially noticeable over the last few years. Surrounded by a squad of brilliant musicians, from which the otherwise masterful Kirk Fletcher has now dropped out, Bonamassa sounds stronger than ever. At least to the ear, even though this time he served his British tea in the empty hall of the legendary The Ryman Auditorium, which has hosted Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and everyone in between, all the way to Coldplay and Taylor Swift. With this live achievement, Bonamassa remains the colossal powerhouse of the new era of blues-rock revival and its leading protagonist!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. When One Door Opens
2. Royal Tea
3. High Class Girl
4. Lookout Man!
5. Why Does It Take So Long To Say Goodbye
6. A Conversation With Alice
7. I Didn’t Think She Would Do it
8. Beyond The Silence
9. Lonely Boy
10. Cradle Rock
11. Walk In My Shadows
12. A New Day Yesterday/ Starship Trooper – Wurm
Lineup:
Joe Bonamassa – guitar, vocals
Reese Wynans – keyboards
Michael Rhodes – bass
Greg Morrow – drums
Rob McNelly – guitar
Jade MacRae – backing vocals
Dannielle DeAndrea – backing vocals
Jimmy Hall – harmonica, backing vocals
