  
The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles is an open-air amphitheatre that over the years has not only played host to a load of concerts, but has also been used to record quite a few live albums, with acts including Neil Diamond, Carole King, The Moody Blues, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Page & the black crowes, John Mellencamp and many more all having released live albums recorded there. Now it's the turn of Joe Bonamassa who has chosen the venue as the setting for his latest live release.
Joe Bonamassa has a history of releasing live albums recorded at spectacular or iconic venues including London's Royal Albert Hall, the Vienna Opera House, New York's Radio City Music Hall and the Red Rocks amphitheatre, and now the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
One of the live albums he released last year was "Muddy Wolf at Red Rocks", and that paid tribute to two Blues Legends, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf with a setlist of their songs. For this new release he's doing the same thing - paying tribute to more Blues legends, this time Albert King, B.B King, and Freddie King. As with the Muddy Wolf tour, the "Three Kings" tour, which included 14 shows across the US, gave a portion of the proceeds to the "Keeping the blues alive foundation", a non-profit organisation that Joe Bonamassa set up to promote the heritage of the Blues to children by funding music scholarships and supplements the loss of music education in public schools.
As you'd expect from a Bonamassa live release, the picture quality on the DVD is excellent, and it's well edited with the different camera angles used well, and all the musicians are given plenty of exposure - it's not a case of all the focus being on Bonamassa, and it's good to see that during the show he takes time to introduce the cast of musicians to the audience. The sound quality is superb too, so the technical side of it is great.
The show itself is around 2 hours long, and Bonamassa fans will love it. He's a superb player and when paying tribute to the different musicians, he doesnt simply copy their style of playing, but takes the essence of it without it being a slavish copy. During the course of the show, as usual he plays a range of guitars - around a dozen, including a 1972 Dan Erlewine custom Flying V that was originally owned by Freddie King.
With a Joe Bonamassa live release, you don't just get the show itself, you normally get a whole host of extras. This time though is the first time I've felt slightly disappointed by the extras. There's a photo gallery, the music video for "Riding with the kings", a short behind the scenes video, and an interview with Joe's parents. I'd hoped for a feature on the three blues legends he's paying tribute to, but sadly not. I'm guessing most people will skip the interview about his youth, watch the music video and the behind the scenes one, and within 15 minutes have finished with the extras never to return to them again.
This is another great release from Joe Bonamassa - around two hours of top quality blues, and I'm sure it will go down very well with the fans.
Track listing:
1. See see baby
2. Some other day, some other time
3. Lonsome whistle blues
4. Sittin' on the boat dock
5. You've got to love her with a feeling
6. Going down
7. I'll play the blues for you
8. I get evil
9. Breaking up somebody's home
10. Angel of mercy
11. Cadillac assembly line
12. Oh, pretty woman
13. Let the good times roll
14. Never make your move too soon
15. Ole time religion
16. Nobody loves me but my mother
17. Boogie woogie woman
18. Hummingbird
19. Hide away
20. Born under a bad sign
21. The thrill is gone
22. Riding with the kings |
