Eric Johnson played to a packed house last night at Ponte Vedre Concert Hall. Along with the other members of his group, Roscoe Beck on bass; Tom Brechtlein on drums; and Dave Scher on guitar/keyboard, he played his best known hits as well as numbers from his newest album, EJ Vol II, for two solid hours.

Eric plays across the width of the music genres, bringing songs from rock, blues, jazz and even country from his lengthy catalog and thrilling the audience with each and every selection.

The night started with Things We Said Today (Beatles cover) warming up the audience with Eric’s virtuoso guitar playing and vocals. The night really warmed up fast when the entire group showed off their talents on Impressions (John Coltrane cover) with each performing a solo section. Eric’s solo introduction to Down Here on the Ground (Wes Montgomery cover) was his guitar shedding tears while trying to fly.

Eric moved to his piano for Waterwheel and Nothing Can Keep Me From You with Dave Scher playing a wicked guitar. The genre switched completely at that point with The Ballad of Elrod and Gurlene, a down home boot kicking, knee slapping country selection. Black Waterside was a huge hit with the audience featuring amazing riffs and licks by Eric, awesome bass by Roscoe, and blood pounding rhythms by Tom with Dave on the snare drum. Eric finished the set with his iconic grammy winning Cliffs of Dover to a standing ovation from the fans.

The group returned to stage for an encore that was less of a particular song and more of an amazing, awesome livingroom jam by three magnificent guitarists and a drummer.

Thank you to Eric Johnson and his fellow musicians for an evening of incredible music, and for bringing us over two hours of relief from the stress of the day.