Joe was awesome as always! This was my third concert here in LA area (previous G3 Hollywood Bowl and Thousand Oaks Civic) in the past few years. Joe is such a gifted musician, it is hard to believe it is humanly possible to play as well as he does. HOB as a venue is small and "up close" too, it made it great. Volume and the mix was perfect, not too loud up front- just right.

Like always, I go home with idea I should just give up and throw my guitar in the fireplace!!! Joe is such a virtuoso! Nobody else out there is of his talent that combines not only technical mastery of the guitar but has excellent songwriting ability, lyrical soloing/melodies, choice phrasing, awesome tone, highly speed, feedback control, gosh.....everything.

Joe rocks- there is no doubt. And with all that ability he remains to give the impression of being such a humble, low key guy. No ego trips with him like so many other guitarists.

As far as I am concerned- only one other guitarist compares with all those traits I mentioned above about Joe... (The whole package- songwriting, ability, licks, tone, no ego trip)- that was one of the earliest melodic players from the early days in the 70's being Rory Gallagher.

dgaviota@hotmail.com

Overall yet another amazing show from Joe and the guys. We ended up getting there pretty early and heard a few songs during the soundcheck while we sat outside before heading off for dinner somewhere... cool! As others said, the setlist was a bit abbreviated from earlier in the tour. The first half of the show was exactly the same, while the second half opened with House Full Of Bullets, replacing Down, Down, Down, Clouds Race Across The Sky, and A Train Of Angels, which were all missed. Joe did say in the online chat a few weeks ago that they were changing the setlist, so I guess he was right but I was hoping for a few more additions. He did say in the chat he would play Time Machine (but didn't play it), and I was hoping some of my setlist choices would get in too (especially Flavor Crystal 7 and Attack). Here's hoping for tonight... ;-)

Other than that, Joe was superb but the rest of the band seemed just a bit rusty after a long time off. I heard a few missed notes in Stu's solo, and I saw Jeff accidentally start playing the ending of Ceremony about 8 bars too early. He quickly caught it and incorporated the low toms in what he was playing for those last 8 bars to make it sound like he meant to do that, showing a sheepish grin on his face. ;-) Being the great player that he is, he did a perfect job of covering it up, so I wonder if anyone else caught it... These couple of shows will be just what they need to get back in top form for the DVD recording. If this video only comes out on DVD, it may be the one thing that forces me to buy a player...

Great show, as usual, but there was some very important stuff missing. In every previous show that I have seen (3+2 webcasts), the second half started out with a much more melodic and hypnotic set including 'Clouds race across the Sky' and 'Down Down Down'. This would always set the mood and then segue into a long and awesome second half. This time, after the intermission, it seemed to start right in the middle of the second set (although I don't think I've heard 'House Full of Bullets' live before). 'Train of Angels' was also sorely missed. The ambiance wasn't quite the same.

While the show was still very good, I am concerned that the upcoming DVD recording sessions will be using the same abbreviated set list. I hope Joe decides to play more, not less, for the DVD. I would like to see as much content as possible. Personally, I suggest that Joe play every single tune that he knows, plus a few extra - even some scales! While the cameras are out, may as well get it all down. If time is the concern then make it a multi-disc DVD set! :-) That would be way cool! I hope they at least get the full set list down. I am really looking forward to the DVD!