(Live Review) JOE BONAMASSA - Rockford, IL (11/10/25)
- Chris Tighe
- 3 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Greetings friends, fans, and followers and welcome to episode #104 of Beard Reviews. Tonight, we are without the services of Little Johnny as the scamp was off on some project with his new sponsor Espolon Tequila and of course the Beard wasn’t invited.
Instead, I obtained the services of the far lovelier and less unpredictable Miss Kelly, and we were off for an evening of blues rock with long-time guitar aficionado Joe Bonamassa. Since Bonamassa was playing in Rockford, the Beard had an opportunity to check out a place whose mascots resembled him at The Goat Bar & Grill.
Located just a couple of miles from the Coronado Theater, The Goat Bar & Grill had an actual rear entrance called the Pen. Replete with goat heads, posters, clocks and other Kitch type accoutrements, the Goat also had a goatcentric menu. We dined on a Goatmelt, with Tater Barrels & Bourbon Cherry Vanilla Smashes. A tasty little meal to get us ready for an evening of blues-based rock. (Ed: Sounds like you should have been heading to a black metal show. Goats!!!!)
Coronado Theater had a 2400 capacity, and the main floor was full. We had seats in the last row but dead center, just left of the soundboard so we figured that was going to be about as balanced as we could get. Bonamassa as usual had no opening act and at just before eight pm, the lights went down, but then stayed that way while the intermission music kept playing. (Ed: That was Satan pissed off that Mayhem wasn't about to take the stage. Hail Lucifer!)
We figured something was up as we watched the sound guy try and break the forty-yard dash record heading from the back of the room to behind the stage. After about 10-15 minutes we heard a pop and saw a flash as all the stage lighting popped on for a second and then back off. A few seconds later, the intermission music stopped and Bonamassa’s introduction tape began playing and the band members started filing on stage. At about 8:15 the show began. (Ed: And Satan smiled.)
As I already did a retrospective on Joe Bonamassa’s history during my review of The Who, where Joe Bonamassa was the opening act, (Beard Reviews Episode #81 found right here on The Mighty Decibel website), I will just hit the high points. A prodigy since he was able to stand, Bonamassa at just twelve years old played twenty-eight dates opening for B.B. King back in 1989. Since then, Bonamassa has released over fifty live and studio albums charted a dozen and been nominated for three Grammys.
Bonamassa is also known for having an extensive collection of over five hundred guitars and four hundred amps. His blues influences trend more British and Irish, and he has played with several of the greats including Eric Clapton. In fact, Clapton once referred to Joe Bonamassa as one of the greatest living guitarists of this century.
Opening with “Trigger Finger” off Breakthrough (his latest 2025 release), Bonamassa and his six-piece band came out swinging. He followed up with the album’s title track before dropping into 2023’s “24-hour Blues.” We got a great little solo from former Double Trouble keyboardist Reese Wynan who throughout the evening operated from behind two pianos and a keyboard. Wynam may be aging, but apparently no one told that to his fingers which danced across multiple keys like Fred Astaire in Holiday Inn. (Ed: What the hell are going on about, Beard?)
“Well, I done got over it.” was a Guitar Slim cover, and Bonamassa brought it to life with some pretty intricate picking drawing the first audience sustained pop of the evening. “Drive by the Exit Sign” took us back to the Breakthrough release before two more covers, “Double Trouble” & “Pack it Up.”
Joe Bonamassa up until then had taken the British/Clapton style of audience interaction between songs with only the occasional clipped “Thank You” before immediately starting into the next track. At this point though, he paused to both introduce the band AND explain what had happened at the show’s onset.
After band introductions, Bonamassa apologized for going on late saying, “Back in my day, we had some cams and colored cellophane for lights. Now, we got all this and it’s great until it’s not. About five minutes before we were supposed to go on, the entire thing stopped working leaving us two choices, fix it or go on in the @#$*ing dark. Frankly, I like to see and since you paid money to be here, I bet you like to see too.” After the crowd popped its approval at the obvious, Bonamassa continued, “normally our Lighting Director works from up there, (indicating the back of the house), but tonight she’s working it from off stage like the #$@ing Wizard of Oz. Thank you for bearing with us tonight. Now on with the show.” (Ed: Don't mess with the Horned One, Bonamassa!)
Next up, “The Heart that Never Waits” took us back to 2021’s, Time Clock release, before three more covers, “I want to shout about it” (from Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters), “It’s Hard but it’s Fair” (by Bobby Parker), and “A Million Miles Away” from Rory Gallagher (one of Bonamassa’s first major influences.) Bonamassa played his heart out on that one bringing the house down for applause and then parting from the stage. Nobody moved, we all knew he was coming back out.
When the lights went back up, Joe said, “I spend entirely too much time on my bus doom scrolling.” An audience member yelled out “That’s not healthy Joe.,” and Bonamassa quipped “Neither are the five martini’s I drink every night Sir, but I do it anyway.” He thanked the audience for coming out, put over his band one more time and said that last evening in Indiana, he had been taken to task for NOT playing a crowd favorite as the encore number. Once again, a fan yelled out “Mountain Time” and Bonamassa joked back “That’s the one I DID play and got criticized, so NOW I am switching it up every night for the rest of the tour. You guys get "Sloe Gin".”
The Beard appreciates Joe Bonamassa as a supremely talented blues guitarist, and I do enjoy watching him play. His voice has a bit of that Van Morrison quality to it and his music really does embody the British style more than the American one. His band is tight, and that keyboardist was great. I don’t know if Bonamassa is truly worth 100-200 dollars a ticket to see, but I did enjoy the show. I am however going to reserve my crack a cold one status on this set and award the Joe Bonamassa show an 87/100.
And that brings episode #104 of Beard Reviews to a close. Remember to friend and follow Mark McQueen on social media, Facebook, Instagram etc for ALL the Beard reviews. Check out all the videos (including from this show) on my TikTok site at thebeard0728 and of course look no further than the Mighty Decibel for all your rock & metal needs. Finally, check out Wild Dogs Radio for our boss Chris Tighes’ weekly shows. The Beard is always reviewing and writing so you can always be reading. You won’t but you could be. Finally, remember our tag line is also a mantra, don’t just plan to do it someday, do it today. It’s far better to remember what you did than to lament on what you meant to do.
This has been the Beard reminding you as always, “Live Life” “Stay Heavy” and “Horns Up.”