IF YOU were to ask people to make a list of who is the most gifted guitarist around at the moment then you would probably get a variety of answers.

Eric Clapton, Joe Satriani, Carlos Santana and a host of others would be there and one name that would be at the top or there about of everyone’s list is Joe Bonamassa.

Discovered at the age of 12, he has been on stage ever since. He must be one of the busiest musicians of any genre around at the moment with a constant string of live dates around the world, album and DVD releases and collaborations with a list of names that most can only dream of.

And on Friday he brought his amazing talent to Bournemouth.

The evening started with an acoustic version of Palm Trees followed by four more numbers including an excellent cover of Jelly Roll by Charles Mingus, when he was joined by his band of outstanding musicians.

This segment ended with firm favourite Woke Up Dreaming and from then on it was plugged in and turned up loud.

And boy it was loud.

Dust Bowl, Driving Toward the Daylight and Django were interspersed by more covers: Midnight Blues by Gary Moore, Howling Wolf’s Who’s Been Talking and a few minutes of Wont Get Fooled Again by The Who filled the next two hours.

Each song demonstrated why Mr Bonamassa is in such demand.

Whether playing blues or rock, on his own or when joined by Bernie Marsden from Whitesnake, Joe showed why he is at the top.

After two hours the main set came to an end with a rousing version of Mountain Time, but he soon returned to play the tune of the night Sloe Gin and send everyone home happy with the Ballad of John Henry.

Derek Daniel