dice el bonamassa

Interestingly, two of the major musical influences on the 32-year-old's style have come from Ireland — Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore. In the case of the late Gallagher, not only did the seminal live recording Irish Tour '74 appeal to Bonamassa's sensibilities, but so did the down-to-earth attitude of the man himself.

“There were two things about Rory Gallagher that hit it off with me — his style and his persona,” says Joe. “He actually looked like my dad; he had the long hair and the flannel shirt, and he looked like he worked in the factory from nine-to-five and then went home, got his Strat, and played a gig that night. So I was taken with Rory from a very early age because he reminded me of my dad.

“Rory also had this way of making the blues accessible to everyone. He was a blue collar, working class hero. The people wanted to cheer for a guy who looked and came across that way, as opposed to someone who had the slick rock star kind of look that you see a lot.”

Belfast's Gary Moore may have had more of that rock star look during his time in bands such as Thin Lizzy, but even more so than Gallagher, there's a close association between the sound that Moore achieved with his famous Les Paul guitar, and that which Bonamassa has with the same instrument.

But whereas Moore often seemed to drift between his hard rock and blues sensibilities, Bonamassa is fairly secure with the style of music he's best known for now.

“Around 15 years or so ago, Gary Moore was responsible for a major resurgence in blues-rock,” he says.

Paul Jones. Bonamassa, who has a voice that sounds enthusiastic at the best of the times, is even more talkative when discussing that experience.

“You can’t define a career by two and a half hours

on stage, but it was certainly a culmination of 20 years

of hard work, a lot of sweat and toil, and also blind belief in one’s self. It was two things that really came together for me, as I’ve always wanted to play the Albert Hall, and to play alongside Eric Clapton at the place where he’s made his home for the past 40 years was an honour.”

The other date that stands out is perhaps less obvious. For all Bonamasssa’s love of iconic Americans such as

BB King, a large number of his heroes hail from the UK and Ireland.

“A guy like Rory Gallagher was a big influence on me,” he says, when discussing the musicians who shaped him. “One of the highlights for

me was that at the end of the last tour we played Cork Opera House, which is where Rory made his name. He was honest in his music, which to me was the most important thing.”