In good spirits, Bonamassa introduced his bandmates, including rhythm guitarist Joe Smith, whom the lead player called “the best guitarist on this stage.” Later on in the show, Smith played a ripping guitar solo that lived up to Bonamassa’s praise.

Keeping up with an artist of Bonamassa’s caliber is no small task, but the band-members held their own, perhaps none so more than keyboardist Reese Wynans, Bonamassa’s main counterpart.

Wynans has a lifetime of experience in trading lead lines and spectacular solos with talented guitarists – after all, he was inducted into the hall of fame as a member of Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s backing band.

Well, if SRV’s sound hit like a Texas Flood, Bonamassa plays with all the tenacity of a New York blizzard – rolling in slow and steady like storm clouds, eventually erupting in furious flurries of notes, a swirl of sounds.

The Utica native played a two-hour set of the finest homegrown blues. A master of tension, Bonamassa frequently brought the band to a hush, leaving nothing but a gentle, constant bass drum thump to accompany the fragile, delicate guitar playing.

These moments were often short-lived, though, as audience members simply couldn’t contain their excitement. Shouts of “Smokin’ Joe!” drowned out Bonamassa’s soft sounds, becoming so unreal at one point that the guitarist had to quiet the audience down with a finger to his lip.

As a twenty-first-century bluesman, Bonamassa isn’t content with regurgitating tired tropes and tricks. Rather, he often seeks to shake the genre at its very foundations, all while staying true to tradition.