news-record.com

GREENSBORO — He’s an unlikely looking rock star.

When Joe Bonamassa came onstage at the Carolina Theatre on Wednesday night, he looked like Jim Carrey impersonating “Rescue Me” TV star Denis Leary.

The gent in a tailored suit with short hair slicked back is a drastic change from the scruffy hippie look the guitarist was sporting a year ago.

But his aural assault hasn’t changed.

Some fans have said his latest release, “The Ballad of John Henry,” is slower and more toned down than his previous work.

You couldn’t tell it by this show.

The near-capacity crowd treated the performance like a tutorial, watching raptly and rocking quietly in their seats as the guitarist presided over his own School of Rock.

The stage was set up with a T-shaped runway that Mick Jagger or Steven Tyler would’ve been proud to prance down.

Bonamassa made use of it almost immediately, hurling howling chunks of blues rock in the crowd’s face on “Last Kiss.”

One problem: His rhythm section was cranked up to such a thudding roar that the song was just a big ball of noise. You could only make out scraps of vocals here and there and a smattering of piercing shrieks, apparently coming from his guitar.

Still, most of what Bonamassa and his quartet put out sounded like parts Cream and ZZ Top.

Then there was “Sloe Gin,” which started out quietly as a duet onstage with Bonamassa and his organist. But as soon as he hit the runway, he cranked the volume to 11, wrenching shrieks from the guitar.

Bonamassa added a dash of Led Zep on “Another Kind Of Love,” howling like Plant and shredding like Page.

He ended his show with a flourish, cranking a nasty version of ZZ Top’s “Just Got Paid” and ending up on a ramp high above the drum kit.

His encore, the B.B. King- flavored “Asking Around For You,” was his finest moment vocally. On everything else he’d done, he sounded like Joe Walsh channeling Robert Plant. For his closer, he got a Ray Charles feel, a little higher up the scale, but just as soulful.

It was an impressive turnout for a midweek show featuring a guy who’s not a household name. Let’s hope the trend continues.

Grant Britt is a freelance contributor.