Robin Trower South Shields Customs House 17th April 2005
Roll forward 25 years, and I was seeing Robin Trower again. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and had all but forgotten many of the songs because, although I have a few of his albums on vinyl, the only one I played was “Bridge of Sighs” and to be truthful, I hadn’t played that for a long time. I needed have worried. Trower walked on stage, waved at the audience, and launched straight into “Too Rolling Stoned”. I immediately recognised the riff, and the years melted away. The guitar playing was as excellent as ever, with the familiar heavy use of wah-wah, and the usual twisting of the face, as Robin squeezed the notes out of his strat.
The singer was Davey Pattison, who I’d seen before many years ago in Ronnie Montrose’s band Gamma, and he did a great job, sticking closely to the original vocal. He has a soulful voice, which matched somewhat the original vocals of the late and very under-rated James Dewar. The mix was a little murky at the start of the set, with the vocals lost in the mix, but things improved as the set progressed. Trower and his band were great, playing a mix of tracks from throughout his career. It was great to see him again.
The gig was reviewed Rahul Shrivastava for the BBC website: “There are no gimmicks, no light show, just four men playing great, bluesy rock ‘n’ roll….there was no denying the passion with which he played his instrument.” The review sparked a few comments from others who attended the gig: “It’s over 25 yrs since I saw Robin at Hammersmith Odeon; always wanted to do so again. So good was this gig that both me and my wife were lost for words… Awesome” (SteV1Da).
“To experience Robin Trower is to be a witness to the mastery of true artistry created on the electric guitar. How rich in talent Robin, and a great few are part of an incredible music history…” (Michael Gibbs). “They used to say that this guy was a ‘Hendrix clone’ Well all I can say is that if Hendrix could play like that he must have been some guitarist! The control and pure artistry were a delight and I hope that this is the first of many returns to the North East.” (Chas Thomason).
Setlist: Too Rolling Stoned; Sweet Angel; What’s Your Name; Rise Up Like The Sun; Daydream; Living Out Of Time; Breathless; Day Of The Eagle; Bridge Of Sighs; Close Every Door; I Want You To Love Me; Please Tell Me; Another Time, Another Place; Little Bit of Sympathy
Encore: Come To Me; Secret Place
Thanks to John for the poster image and for the photo which he got signed for me at a Trower gig in the States.
I’ve seen Trower once more since, and have already written about that gig.
7 Oct
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