TBPAC staff talks Joe Bonamassa

A few staff members have written in with a bit of love for Joe Bonamassa, who'll be here in Dec.:

"(The first Bonamassa concert I attended) had to have been in the late 80’s . . . Rochester, NY used to have a festival tent downtown . . . held around 2,000 people. Lots of good music all summer long. Very personal venue. A bunch of us went to see B.B.  King, and Joe Bonamassa opened for him. We didn'’t realize at the time that he was from Utica which was just 2 hours down the road from Rochester. Bonamassa couldn'’t have been any more than 12 or 13. You could see his dad standing next to the stage watching him. The blues that kid could play would have made any number of blues guitarists proud. I think his guitar looked bigger than he was. That was before he had started to sing along with playing. Toward the end of the show, B.B. King came on stage and played with him.

There were a few other times in the next couple of years we saw him open for George Thorogood and even for Robert Cray. Each time we heard him play, he was better and better on that guitar." - Dona H.

"This is Joe’s second performance this year at TBPAC and I personally am very excited about this one. Joe has been playing guitar since he was four years old and even opened for B.B. King at the tender age of twelve. All of Joe’s albums have hit the top ten albums of the year on Billboard's Blues charts. His last two (You & Me and Sloe Gin) have debuted at #1. This man is phenomenal and should not be missed if you are into Blues/Rock or have a guitar player fetish; you are going to love Joe. This is only the third time he’s played Tampa and the acoustics in the Ferguson Hall are great -so do yourself a favor and come support the Blues @ TBPAC!" - Jeff C.

Joe Bonamassa will be performing in the Ferguson Hall on December 3, 2007.

Check out more on Joe Bonamassa.