Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.5

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 30, 2013

It still comes as something of a surprise, if not an out and out shock, to me that even friends and fellow musicians I consider to be relatively well schooled in contemporary music have either never heard of Joe Bonamassa or haven’t really spent any time listening to his recordings. Bonamassa has had huge album sales through the years, and even better for Blu-ray lovers, there are a couple of outstanding previous releases of his concerts available, Joe Bonamassa: Live from The Royal Albert Hall and Joe Bonamassa: Beacon Theatre - Live From New York. That duo is now joined by the equally impressive An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House, a really appealing set that finds Joe and his musical cohorts giving something akin to an “uplugged” concert, albeit in a pretty tony environment.

Surrounded by a gaggle of acoustic guitars, Joe plays a long and varied set, reworking some of his best known tunes into virtually unrecognizable new versions. One of my favorites of his, “Mountain Time”, is changed from an elegiac musing replete with long, extended drones and beautiful electric guitar solos to something akin to a Flatt and Scruggs outing, replete with jangly banjoes and furiously strummed guitars. It’s just one example of how brilliant Bonamassa’s approach frequently is. Bonamassa’s excellent band includes Gerry O’Connor on Irish banjo and fiddle; Mats Webster on nyckelharra and mandola; Arlan Schierbaum on harmonium, accordion, baby piano and glockenspiel; and the incredible Lenny Castro on percussion.

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Joe Bonnamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House is presented with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.29:1. The stage here is minimally set and lit, which actually helps the image quality here immeasurably, since there isn't any aggressive stage lighting that might cause banding or posterizing. Black levels are very pure and impressive, and fine object detail is outstanding in the many close-ups. Colors are natural looking and very nicely saturated.

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Joe Bonnamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House features extremely good sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 mixes (as well as a standard lossy Dolby surround track). Fidelity is superb, with the 5.1 track offering sumptuous spaciousness and a really nice representation of the hall ambience in Vienna. The mix is spot on, with all instruments coming through with brilliant clarity and Bonamassa's voice given first priority in the vocal moments.

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Unplugged in Europe – "The Making Of" (1080p; 43:38) features some good interviews and details how special Bonamassa felt this venue was.


• An Acoustic Evening "Voices" (1080p; 40:12) presents interviews from Bonamassa and band about the "unplugged" concert.

Joe Bonamassa: An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those of you who are already fans of Joe Bonamassa know how incredibly versatile a musician he is, and will no doubt want this Blu-ray if you have in fact not already picked it up. Those of you who haven't yet experienced the flawless musicianship of this "guitar hero", what are you waiting for? You now have three impeccable Blu-rays to choose from. Highly recommended.