Joe Bonamassa — North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, 2016

Full concert by Joe Bonamassa at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Ahoy Rotterdam, on Sunday 10 July 2016. This particular set is built as a homage to the music of three British guitarists — Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page — a programme Bonamassa toured that year before committing it to the album British Blues Explosion Live. Backed by Russ Irwin (guitar, keyboards), Reese Wynans (keyboards), Michael Rhodes (bass) and Anton Fig (drums), the New York guitarist revisits British blues-rock of the 1960s and 70s with his heavy Les Paul tone and overdriven phrasing. The live concert moves through ‘Let Me Love You Baby’ from the Jeff Beck Group, ‘Mother’s Children Have a Hard Time’, Cream’s ‘SWLABR’, Willie Dixon’s ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘Pretending’. A workaholic bluesman who plays around 150 shows a year, Bonamassa delivers a scholarly, electric reading of his influences carried by a seasoned band. A key filmed concert for hearing the artist at one of Europe’s largest jazz and blues festivals.