TOUR 2005 MORE FROM THE FLOOR
Guildhall
Gloucester
April 15, 2005
Review Alan Howard
If only every town could have an Arts Centre like this!
The Guildhall, in the heart of Gloucester’s vibrant City centre retail and leisure area, offers residents and visitors alike a vast array of sensory delights. Inside its imposing architecture, the Arts Centre has distinct gallery, cinema, live performance and ancillary bar café space (the latter, ideal for nourishing weary travellers!)
This probably makes it one of this country’s more suitable venues to welcome VIPs who have travelled thousands of miles to be here tonight!
It is a very great honour and privilege to meet Mr Steve Shail and Mr Neil Calandra. Steve, who has flown all the way from Saskatchewan, has probably done more than any other Trower fan to keep the home fires burning in the UK for our hero through the inimitable Internet site ‘Steve’s Place’.
Neil, in England for the first time since 1993 and accompanied this time by Mrs C, hails from Long Island and is, for me, the person who has best captured our hero and his band through the lens of a camera in recent years. He is an artist of the highest order with a stunning portfolio of images.
Gentlemen, welcome! Come on, let’s see the show!
It’s also great to meet fellow fan Frank from hometown Stalybridge, the people united by music.
The Sneakers open the show with an inspired selection of blues and classic tunes including a magic version of the Beatles’ ‘Come Together’. There’s a great atmosphere in the hall tonight and the band’s eclectic set is just the thing to get the audience nicely warmed up for the main act.
Enter our hero and the band! This is my first show since Nottingham. How things move on in just two weeks! One of the things I have always admired about Robin Trower is that he lives for today not yesterday. The set remains unchanged but no two shows have been the same. He and the band are constantly on the prowl for new inflections and directions.
‘Too Rolling Stoned’ sees our hero really snapping the strings towards the close of his extended solo, pizzicato with a punch! Davey’s voice has never sounded better. He’s as passionate as ever tonight in his delivery especially on the songs from the new album ‘Living out of Time’. ‘Sweet Angel’ has proved to be an outstanding live vehicle for the band on this tour, right sort of length, parked second song in, with its wholemeal minor nine verse and 5671 low-fat spread of a chorus, very tasty indeed. The penultimate chord in the live version of this song adds a dash of spicy chilli sauce to proceedings,
hot enough to make the eyes water! We simply adore it. Our hero really has got a bad case of the blues as ‘Rise up like the sun’ from the ‘Twentieth Century Blues’
album testifies. Robin’s whole body is fused with sudden contortions tonight on the soloing for this number. Dave and Pete have to be the best backing musicians on the entire planet, an absolute Godsend to any instrumentalist looking to create the sort of vast open soundscapes on show here. The sheer warmth and depth of Robin’s tonal range on a number like ‘Daydream’ sends us all into spellbound heaven.
Bronzie’s lines on the instrumental passages in ‘Breathless’, the stand-out track on ‘Go My Way’ just for its joyful harmonies in the middle eight, bring a brand a new urgency to this section of the music tonight helping to make the return to the chorus riff even more grunge-tastic! Robin has pruned the accompaniment and its timing right back on the verse and suddenly, less really is much much more. Wow!
In years past, Robin paid homage to ‘The Sound of Music’ at the end of ‘Sympathy’. Now I may have this completely wrong but on this tour that slot seems to have been overtaken by something which vaguely resembles Boyzone’s ‘No matter what’. I’m not a 100% certain but that’s what it sounds like to me. Can anyone put me straight here?
The show is a stunning success and warmly appreciated by the audience including our visitors from the other side of the pond. Steve has been up in the gantry shooting video while Neil has grabbed a front stage spot in good range of Robin. His Nikon is crammed full with stunning colour images.
Onward, ever onward, tomorrow will be another in city dream.
The Komedia
BRIGHTON
Nov 7, 2005
The first show on the November leg was destined to be an experience for those who were lucky enough to get to the show. First review in by Alan Howard speaks for itself.
More to follow.
" What an absolutely fantastic show! ‘Hannah’, ‘Roads to Freedom’, ‘Fine Day’, what a combination, truly awesome. I don’t think ‘Roads’ has ever been played live before. What a terrific song it is. Secret Place’ has given way to ‘Islands’, last heard live in the UK at the Marquee shows in 1985. ‘Too Rolling Stoned’ moves into the second half of the set and is all the more funky for it with the band finding a more flexible, freer groove particularly in the solo section at the end. There are welcome returns for ‘Victims of the Fury’, ‘Go my way’ and ‘Another time, Another place’.
We get two marvellous encores tonight: ‘Lady Love’ together with ‘The past untied’; then later, an impromptu ‘Daydream’. The Brighton crowd loved it, next stop, Cambridge. This is Alan Howard reporting for ‘Steve’s Place’.
Tour 2005 November Leg
Comments from the floor
Well the tour for 2005 is now over.
What an amazing year for the fans over in the U.K and Europe.
After a long time away from home, Robin brought together the best band he could have possibly gathered and showed the fans that he was still a force to be reckoned with in a live setting.
Then, after completely captivating old and new fans with his first leg he came back with an almost completely new show and took the fans back in time and gave them something they have been waiting for for years..... Robin Trower!
Living Out Of Time as a tour name became appropriate with this second leg. The shows took all who were lucky enough to be there back to days long thought past.
Read some of the comments from people who attended the shows :
...." "the set was just what any long-standing Trower fan could have hoped for""
...""when I first read the posting of the new set list I knew I had to go see Robin again.""
....."" as the opening strains of Twice Removed From Yesterday and Hannah burst from Robin's guitar it was clear everything was going to be all right, as this inspired and unexpected coupling from his first album was as much a surprise as it was a revelation.""
"" What an absolutely fantastic show! ‘Hannah’, ‘Roads to Freedom’, ‘Fine Day’, what a combination, truly awesome.""
"" the choice of material caught the crowd completely by surprise""
""There really is nothing quite like seeing and hearing The Robin Trower Band playing live.""
""Priceless!""
""A big thank you to the group and crew for delivering the goods on this tour once again. I was drained at the end – where do these guys get the energy from? ""
""Robin and the band were on fire, knowingly smiling at each other.""
""..... he is actually playing better now than at anytime I can remember.""
""... the band seemed more energized this time round, the songs seemed to bring out the best in all of them.""
"" The song ‘Hannah’ has proved a crowd favourite on this part of the tour with Robin playing in his usual soulful manner, supported by Dave's harmonious stellar bass lines, great drumming from Pete, and incredible vocals from Davey. The change in tempo mid section enabled the band to descend into a great groove along with the audience.""
"" What a set, this tour should most certainly be on DVD, Robins playing is out of this
world, & the rest of the band are first class.""
"".. what a great instrumental Islands is live. ""
""Now I do believe in Magic.""
"" The set list on this tour, a stroke of sheer genius by Robin.""
"" The band quite obviously enjoyed playing these favourites as well as the audience enjoyed hearing them. ""
""They put their all into the show.""
"" the only song that I thought was missing was No Time we never did get to see the band show us stuff from that time.... some of his best work with this line up""
"" .... and hearing Davey sing Hanna .... brought me to tears.""
"" these songs came alive ...again after so many years! ""
"" after the first leg I thought nothing could top the shows this band gave .... I was wrong""
The Robin 2 - Bilston, March 17th, 2005
From Karen Wilson
After waiting for 24 years to see Robin play live, and appropriately at the Robin 2, I wasn't disappointed! I never thought I'd get to see him and even now I still can't believe I have. One week on, it's like a dream. The band kicked off with a rocking version of "Too Rolling Stoned" which made me leave my place and run down the front so I could soak up the vibes better. The band totally gelled together from the first song, with Davey's voice soulfully rising above Robin's brilliant playing. Dave Bronze was an unostentatious but great presence on the stage and he kept it all together with his brilliant bass. It was great to hear "Rise Up Like the Sun" which is a personal favourite off "20th Century Blues", and it was on this that Pete Thompson made his presence felt with his relentless rhythm. "Daydream" was wonderful, with a real meditative feel - I could feel those around me swaying with the music, and it had the essential quality of other-worldliness that it's always had, whichever version I've heard of it - nice one Robin!
Other highlights (amongst highlights) were "Living Out Of Time", "Day of the Eagle", Bridge of Sighs" and "Another Time, Another Place". The latter was excellent and despite the fact there wasn't a song from "Victims of the Fury", this filled the gap because to me, it's reminiscent of that time. Ending with "A Little Bit of Sympathy", Robin surpassed himself and the crowd was extremely appreciative - I had been worried that the British crowds would be too reserved, but they were great - in a good live venue like the Robin 2, the crowd is able to express themselves and be heard, and as Alan Howard has already said in his review of the gig, they certainly let Robin know how much they love him! Stamping feet and shouts brought us the encore, and it was a fantastic bonus. All that remained was for me to slyly rip one of the posters off the wall on the way out.
Please come back soon Robin - you've been away from the UK live circuit for too long!
Another review from Alan Howard Deal show
Wow! This tour has been something else, absolutely sensational.
What more fitting way then to celebrate its passing than with another concert beside the seaside, beside thesea.
The Astor Theatre is a beautiful, ornate building just a stone’s throw away from Deal’s pedestrian-friendly shopping streets and is arguably one of the Kent coastal town’s most precious gifts.
Like so much of the fabric of our lives, this particular gift is here thanks to the selfless contribution of a loyal band of volunteers. The trustees and staff of The Astor Theatre lovingly amass a formidable array of talent for the good people of this south eastern-most tip of England, on a regular basis. Davey Pattison is enjoying a quick fag break with roadies Steve and Lawrie outside the stage door as we roll up outside the theatre on Stanhope Road, time for a few words of thanks from us. He, as the band’s voice, has conjured up the memory of late great and sorely missed, James Dewar throughout this tour. His vocals on this tour have been a revelation.
Switching to the Royal Hotel, we are reunited with fellow Trower nomads Martin, John and Keith for a few pre-show beers. Then its back to the Astor to catch Jon Amor’s set. It’s his best performance of the tour, without doubt.
And so we face the final countdown. One or two minor technical hiccups, notably some intermittent and unwelcome feedback has Pete getting up from his post like a flash of lightning. Robin’s sweet solo in ‘Rolling Stoned’ is full of sharp staccato snatches towards its end. Dave Bronze’s lines ebb and flow freely on ‘Daydream’ and ‘Bridge of Sighs’. Pete crashes through to the next level of pure funk fusion on ‘Come to me’. Once again, ‘Another Time, Another Place’ makes its mark. Davey’s blistering vocal lines on this song are a joy to behold.
And we will meet another time, another time, another place.
We very much hope so. In the meantime, Robin, Davey, Pete, Dave, Jon, Lawrie, Steve, Derek, Alan and colleagues – thank you, thank you, thank you for an unforgettable experience these past few weeks, simply Trowertastic!!!
Thanks also to Steve Shail over there in Canada for keeping us all up-to-speed on what’s new and what’s next! Keep up the good work, Steve!
