Joe Bonamassa, The Mexicolas and Stone Gods were just a few artists who performed at the Gibson Guitar Stand at Music Live 2008 in Birmingham, England, Nov. 7-9, 2008
Music Live, the UK’s leading musical instrument consumer event, returned to the NEC in Birmingham, England on Nov. 7-9. And for the very first time in the UK, Gibson Guitar had its own dedicated stand, which provided visitors an opportunity to see and play many of Gibson's and Epiphone’s latest models, including the Gibson USA Robot Guitar, the new Gibson USA 2008 Les Paul Standard, Gibson Slash signature Les Paul Goldtop, Gibson ES-339, Gibson Custom's Joe Bonamassa "Inspired by" Les Paul, Gibson Custom Zakk Wylde Flying V and the Epiphone Prophecy, among others.
Over the event's three days, the Gibson stand was the place to be as it hosted exclusive artist performances from guitar great Joe Bonamassa, The Electric City, Stone Gods, Michael Weston King and The Mexicolas. Bonamassa drew the largest crowd, as he performed a medley of rock and blues riffs on his signature Les Paul before signing photographs and CD's to the many fans that came to see him. The Gibson Guitar stand also hosted regular Gibson Robot guitar demonstrations courtesy of Jansen Press, which provided a great opportunity to witness this Digital Music award-winning guitar in action.
Over 30,000 people visited Music Live over the three days, and many of them paid a special visit to the Gibson Guitar Stand to check out all the Gibson and Epiphone guitars on display. In addition to all the exclusive performances, a Gibson Les Paul GT was given away to a lucky attendee on Saturday, as a crowd of over 800 people waited anxiously to see if they had won the star prize. On Sunday, The Stone Gods drew out another Les Paul GT winner following their acoustic performance. Still another lucky winner was an attendee named Jake, who won the special Gibson and Haynes Publishing Les Paul Manual riff contest. Jake performed his winning riff before collecting a Gibson Les Paul Studio and a signed copy of the book by author Paul Balmer.
Also on hand for the event was the Gibson European tour bus, which was parked adjacent to the Gibson Stand and offered visitors a taste of life on the road. The luxurious bus was opened up to the public at various scheduled times over the weekend, and was used by the performing artists to speak with members of the press, and as a quiet space away from the noise outside.
In addition to his performance on the main stage, Gibson Signature artist Bonamassa is also currently on a tour of the UK performing tracks from his latest album Live from Nowhere in Particular. Bonamassa also announced that he will play a one-off date at legendary Royal Albert Hall in London on May 4, 2009, which is described as "The gig of his life."
For more information on Music Live please visit www.musiclive.co.uk