- what exotic fish I caught in the ocean of music -

Wow, first you offer the Tedeschi Trucks band doing I’d rather be a Blind Girl
Then you offer Joe Bonamassa performing Stop at the Royal Albert
Just wait ’til you hear Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa do I’d rather be a Blind Girl, at the end of this post.

But first, here is my Joe Bonamassa story.

Back when Netflix was renting DVDs by mail, I was ordering all the music concert DVDs I could find on their site. After I had run out of search key words like “concerts”, group name etc. I started doing a search for Royal Albert Hall
After all, only the best groups play there :wink:
One concert that popped up was “Joe Bonamassa live at the Royal Albert Hall” When that result came up, I just sat there and said to myself who is Joe Bonamassa???
Then I thought to myself “well you must be good he played the Royal Albert!”
So I ordered it.
I’ll never forget watching the intro of his nerdy youth and then the beginning of the concert and holy cow what a guitar player!!!
I immediately ordered the Blu-ray off of Amazon :+1:
Weeks later my wife and I were at a concert, can’t remember the group, but at intermission at the concession stand there was a guy in front of us wearing a Joe Bonamassa black leather jacket. I said to him I see you are a Joe Bonamassa fan and told him I had the Royal Albert Blu-ray. He asked me if I had Live at the Beacon Theater. I told him no and he said well you should get it because it’s even better than the Royal Albert.
And wait ’til you hear Beth Hart.
He was right it was even better.
Now fast forward to three or four years later.
To last weekend.
My wife had a childhood friend over for the weekend and Sunday before her friend was getting ready to go home the subject of the Blues came up. Turns out her her girlfriend, from Ireland, is a blues fan So we got in front of the TV set and started starting casting YouTube videos of different blues artists. Then she mentioned Etta James and “I’d rather be a blind girl”
I asked her had she seen Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart do it, and she asked who is Joe Bonamassa and who is Beth Hart???
So I cast the 10 minute version of Joe Bonamassa and Beth Hart doing I’d rather be a Blind Girl live in Amsterdam.
After the performance I looked over to my wife’s friend and she was crying uncontrollably! She couldn’t go on, no more Blues for her…………

Here’s that video.

Be sure to play the whole video, because just when you think Beth Hart is at the end, You find out she was just getting started!!!

Hi dchomak,

A few years ago I also got told about Joe by 2 of my workmates.
That’s when I bought the Royal Albert Hall DVD.
When the Beacon Theater DVD was released I got that as well…once again Beth Hart is on that.
I must find more time to watch these again!
Your Beth Hart video is brilliant.
BTW, I see the other guitarist is Blondie Chaplin from South Africa, who I mentioned earlier in this post.
Joe’s drummer Anton Fig, was also one of the South African musos who was around in my youth.
Have you ever seen any of the Eric Clapton “Crossroads” DVD’s?
They feature some of the world’s greatest guitarists. Well worth getting.

Yes I have! In fact I own them all, in blue ray when possible. You’re right, those are the best examples of the old time and up and comer blues performers.
A great set of discs to have, great place to start a blues collection.
The festival was every 3 years, but I’m afraid we have seen the last one. EC seems to have gotten to old to put it on anymore. I’m depressed about it.

After I played that Beth Hart doing I would rather go Blind in front of my wife and friend, I wanted to order the Blueray of the concert in Amsterdam
I didn’t because I thought my wife would surprise me with it, but she didn’t.
She is amazing that way, but some how that one got by her :slight_smile:

So I guess there’s no birthday present for your wife this year!

There’s just one more band I think I should mention before having my last beer for the night, and that’s TOTO.
One of the great groups who were session musicians individually on many records for a few decades.
I have many of their DVD’s and I’m sorry to have never seen them play live.
Steve Lukather is a guitar legend!

Thanks you mentioning Toto. For me, they are always in one group with Chicago and Boston. All they with their a bit enthusiastic and cheerful style (missed some English here… :).
Asia is also close to this group.

My daughter told me about a joke in her company:
If you hear a really good old song and you do not know who performs it, be sure that you listen Boston. :wink:

The Alan Parsons Project - Eye in the Sky

And for vodka lovers :person_facepalming:
Вика Цыганова-Русская водка:

Thanks Bonham,
Alan Parsons and Chicago - 2 of my favourites - I still play them a lot.
I was not that much into Boston - they play that one song on the radio all the time “More than a feeling”, and it is one that I got weary of for hearing it too many times.

Fully agree for “More than a feeling”. This song is really overexposed. I point it inertial… :person_facepalming:

But Boston has a number of hits that worth it (and are in my golden collection): Foreplay Long Time, Peace of Mind, Rock and Roll Band, Smokin, Hitch a Ride, Something About You, Let Me Take You Home Tonight, Don’t Look Back, Still In Love, Amanda, etc. :beer:

Deep Purple in their (and our) best years …

A little brass never hurt anybody, and the sax always been a cool instrument to me.
Even tried playing one which was freaky for a DIY drummer / picker / harp player

Camel - Lady Fantasy - Mirage, 1974

Joe Cocker sings “A little help from my friends”. subtitles for the hearing impaired

Ha Ha - Now I finally know what Joe was singing…!

I saw him live in concert at least 10 years ago and he was apparently off the booze and drugs.
He still had the most powerful voice ever.

He was a wild young man and got himself into a bit of trouble in Australia according to this news article:

JOE COCKER IN AUSTRALIA

Joe Cocker’s hard-living reputation was the stuff of rock and roll mythology.

However his first Australian tour in 1972 was remembered for more than just the music.

Getting back into touring after the rigours of his infamous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of America in 1970, the tour was derailed when Cocker and five bandmates were arrested in Adelaide for possession of Indian hemp and fined $300 each.

The tour made its way to Melbourne where Cocker, who was 28 at the time, was arrested after a brawl in the Commodore Chateau Hotel when management asked the singer and his entourage to leave the venue.

He was charged with assaulting police, indecent language, common assault, offensive behaviour and refusing to leave licensed premises.

The Herald said at his Festival Hall review Cocker drank from whiskey bottles and told the crowd of his deportation order “they can touch our bodies but they can’t touch our souls” and added “anyway marijuana will be legal here in five years.”

After the Melbourne incident the Immigration Department issued Cocker with a deportation order, and promoter Harry M Miller was forced to cancel shows in Perth and Brisbane as Cocker left the country.

We used to buy the Detroit Free Press every Sunday, strip out the concert schedule and toss the rest of the paper. Drove down to see Joe Cocker in 1976. Unfortunately it was a very forgettable show. The show was late getting started, crowd was getting annoyed. The band came on stage and started playing without Joe. After the first song ended without Joe, the crowd was even more annoyed. Finally Joe came out, crowd cheered. He was stumbling around on stage, singing way off key, and got down on his hands and knees and started vomiting. The roadie crew got him off stage, and the band continued to play the rest of the evening without him. We stayed for a few songs and left to drive home. I believe Joe was at the height of his heroin and alcohol addiction at the time. Was really sad to see witness this, and couldn’t imagine being one of his incredibly talented band members, when all they wanted to do was play awesome music with a sober Joe Cocker.

Not a big country music fan but I kind of have to listen on occasion. The first is alright and I like the second one enough to have it in my collection

Bebe Rexha - Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line) [Official Music Video] - YouTube Bebe Rexha - Meant to Be (feat. Florida Georgia Line)

Midland - Drinkin' Problem - YouTube Midland - Drinkin Problem

RobertB…
Unfortunate Joe Cocker concert for you…

Interesting poster you have there…
I think they have misspelt the BRecker Brothers who played brass on just about every album in the 70’s.
Randy was one of the original members of Blood Sweat and tears, and also played in Dreams with his brother Michael and Billy Cobham.
I used to really like Billy Cobham for his solo stuff and work with John Mclaughlin.
Billy Cobham came to Australia a few times to do drum workshops and a few concerts in the 90’s and 2000’s.
I went to one of his concerts probably about 17 years ago at a small jazz venue.
He had Randy Brecker in his band, and a few talented Aussie musicians. It was a great show.
He was selling and signing CD’s after the show and I had a chat with him after buying one - what a pleasant, humble man he was.

Was just a cutout from the Detroit Free Press newspaper. So misspellings were common! We use to listen to Birds of Fire a lot. Great album. It was Cobham’s drumming on that record that got me interested in the drums

Birds of Fire was one of the first LP’s I bought when I started working and had some newly acquired beer and music money…
While at school, we didn’t have much money for records, and friends would borrow each other’s LP’s and record cassettes from them.
I was interested in drumming because my older brother was a drummer. I used to sneak into his room and bang the drums when he wasn’t there, but I never learned to play properly.

Some more more obscure oldies:

This is the original, later covered by The Hollies

Had some of the members of 10cc playing on it

Can you recognize the artists?