American guitar hero Joe Bonamassa coming to Vancouver

It just keeps getting better for Vancouver-area rock-guitar freaks. First off was the announcement last month that British guitar legend Jeff Beck was coming to town. Now the player most likely to one day claim Beck's title as the world's greatest living rock guitarist, Joe Bonamassa, is set to play here as well. He'll be at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday, December 17.

For anyone who isn't aware of how awesome Bonamassa is--and has been for most of his life--here's a clip of him when he was 12 years old, being suited up with a Telecaster by none other than the great Danny Gatton. Pretty smokin' blues licks for a kid, if you ask me.

And here's a more recent clip of the now 34-year-old Bonamassa--who also plays in the supergroup Black Country Communion--in the studio, recording the track "Stop!", off his 2009 album The Ballad of John Henry. I like the part near the end where air-guitar-ready producer Kevin Shirley pushes a button and says: "That sounds really interesting! Cool!" What I like even better than that is the part at the very end of the video where Bonamassa, before taking a sip of wine, declares: "We're just as god made us, Rick. I know we're savages."

Tix for Joe Bonamassa's Vancouver concert are on sale now, and you can find them here.

You can follow Steve Newton on Twitter at twitter.com/earofnewt.