Joe Bonamassa returned to Madrid on November 8 with a set that opened on two songs from his latest studio album. At Palacio Vistalegre, the guitarist started with “Breakthrough” and “Trigger Finger,” then turned to older blues material before closing the night with “Sloe Gin.”
Source: Hinton1994 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped archive photograph of Bonamassa at Manchester’s O2 Apollo in October 2010. The crop is shared under the same license.
The Madrid concert followed a November 7 date at Barcelona’s Sant Jordi Club. Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE reported that the two shows ended an absence of more than a decade from Spanish stages. Madrid’s Carabanchel district listed an 8 p.m. start at the arena, matching the time recorded in the fan-compiled set list.
The Madrid set drew three songs from Breakthrough
The album’s official track list puts “Breakthrough” and “Trigger Finger” first and second, in the same order that Bonamassa played them in Madrid. The third song he took from the record, “Drive By the Exit Sign,” appears fourth on the album but came after several older songs onstage. RTVE reported that the live arrangement dropped the studio version’s slide guitar and shifted the song toward soul. The change makes it a different performance even for listeners who already know the record.
Another pair of songs came from a much earlier record. The Madrid set list identifies “Happier Times” and “Last Kiss” with The Ballad of John Henry, and RTVE reported that the band linked the two onstage. It is a different balance from the Wombats’ planned full-album anniversary set. Bonamassa took pairs from different records and let the covers sit between them.
Gallagher songs marked two parts of the show
Bonamassa played “I Fall Apart” earlier in the evening and returned to Rory Gallagher late with “A Million Miles Away.” “Mainline Florida,” known from Eric Clapton’s recording, appeared in the first half. The closing “Sloe Gin” also began outside Bonamassa’s catalogue, but he recorded it as the title song of his 2007 album. That history explains how the night could end with both a cover and a song long associated with his own records.
Bonamassa’s account of recording “Sloe Gin” puts the studio version at more than eight minutes. RTVE described the Madrid encore as running past ten. Even the song that ended the set had room to stretch beyond the recording.
The Madrid show was the second Spanish stop on the guitarist’s European itinerary. For listeners trying to trace the night back to the records, the first two tracks are where the concert followed the album sequence most closely. The rest offers a set-list route through several releases and the players he saluted. It is the kind of distinction that also matters when a tour set brings back an older song.
