Robin Trower Concert Review!

[Ritchie200]

First, sorry for the delay.  I have been swamped and just have not had time to post.

Ok, since Tubenit and Plate insisted on soiling my homage to one of the monsters of pure Stratocaster heaven, I am forced to start another thread to keep the subject pristine.  Hopefully Tubenit and Plate will not notice and be busy posting on the.....t....t.....plywood-guitar-site.

At one time from 1973 through 1995'ish, I had seen Robin every time he has been in St. Louis.  Kids, family, and life stopped my ironman streak.  I was even fortunate enough to meet Robin in the early 90's - great, humble, truly nice guy.  Robin's shows over the years (from around '83 on) have been pretty predictable.  Open with Too Rolling Stoned, another classic, a string of new stuff split up with Daydream and Bridge of Sighs, Day of the Eagle, and encore with A Little Bit of Sympathy.  I was expecting the same and actually declared to my daughter that she should "Get ready to hear that song I played for you on the way here!".  Nope....  Opened with Somebody Calling and the evening was sprinkled with songs from probably every album - many I had not heard since their original album tour.  He was obviously having a good time, the house was sold out, and it was a very loud crowd.  His encore was Too Rolling Stoned and as the bass player and drummer were walking off, Robin called them back and played a simply amazing version of For Earth Below.  The crowd was going bonkers.  This had to have been the best Trower show I have ever seen.  His playing is just amazing.  He will be 70 in six months and he is playing as strong as ever.  His finger vibrato is without peer.   I was sending Jojo video snippets throughout the show and as low-fi and distorted as they were (it was really fricken loud...), he could see it too.  Robin was playing through two old small box 50 watters.  Great tone, great tone, great tone.  Did I happen to mention the great tone?  Funny to have witnessed through the years of gear: 100watt Super Lead full stacks to a mix of Fender and Marshall to JCM 800's, JCM 900's, Vintage Modern, to a mix of old and new. 4x12, 2x12, 2x15, 8x10.  Now full circle to something relatively low-tech and old, dimed, through some 12's.  Fantastic evening of playing.

Also of note.  The local band that opened happened to play every song that one of my bands used to play back in the day.  I kept looking at my daughter going, "We used to play that!!!!"  Everything from I'm your captain to Waiting for the Bus to Thunderbird to etc., etc....  The guitar player was a local top gun and he did not disappoint.  Their last song (the only one I had NOT done) was Frankenstein.  I've heard Gary Hoey's version live and this guy blew it out of the venue, city, AND state!  Trower's road crew came out shaking their heads and high fiving the guitar player.  That says something right there.  He was playing through what looked to be an old 100watt super lead and an old basketweave 4x12.  Both were showing more wood than tolex, missing parts of the logo, and very little intact grill cloth.  Amazing noise coming from this setup.

All in all a great night.  My daughter had a great time and now has some Trower in her song list on her phone - YES!!!

Hope you like the pics.

Jim

[tubenit]

Thanks for sharing your review of Robin's concert!  Sounds like an incredible experience and getting to share that with your daughter made it even more unique and meaningful.

I love hearing that he still brings a great deal of energy and creativity to his show and that he enjoys them still. Very cool!

I appreciate your posting the pictures.    Best regards,  Jeff

[Ritchie200]

Thanks Jeff!  Yeah, he would close his eyes, make that famous Trower face and the most incredible runs would pour out.  His playing is so tasty.

Jim

[Willabe]

Yeah, he would close his eyes, make that famous Trower face

Yep, that's Trower, Mr. Rubber face.   

Who was singing?   

The older guy with glasses? He's got an incredible voice IMO.

I have loved James Drewers voice from the beginning of Trowers band.


                    Brad     

[Ritchie200]

The older guy with glasses is Davey Pattison - ex singer for Ronnie Montrose's Gamma.  He has great pipes for SURE.  However, his bass player was singing for this show.  He was a real young pup but did a very nice job.  Not sure what his name is.  The only real disappointment was the drummer.  He missed a couple of changes and a couple of times it was painfully obvious.  Robin didn't eyeball him or skip a beat so who knows?  Maybe a fill in?

Jim

[Platefire]

Can I post here Anyway, thanks for the review. Glad to hear he's still top shelf. As many times that you've seen his show, your certainly qualified to do a good review. Thanks, Platefire

[Ritchie200]

Plate,


You are more than welcome to post here!!!  (Just dont use that "t" word...)


Yes, it was an amazing night.  He is one of those players that make it look so effortless.


Jim

[DummyLoad]

thanks for posting the review & glad you all had a good time.


--pete

[Platefire]

I was going to say the "T" word but decided not to.     To be honest I never followed Trower to close but always has a very high opinion of his talent. Being an old Hendrix fan to me he carried that styling on and his song lyrics were certainly less juvenile or more mature. When the album with Bridge of Sighs came out, I was really blown away with that but somehow never followed him after that. The group I played with at that time learned a couple of songs off of that album but it's been so long ago, I can't even remember the titles. I love a three piece set up. Even though there is a lot of holes to fill up there is also a lot of freedom. I did that in the 70's and wore a 65 strat completely out---wish I had held on to it! Platefire