It’s a wet and miserable night as we queue up for the legend that is Robin Trower at the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, but first up we have Jack J Hutchinson performing as a stripped-down duo tonight with Greg Smith on bass. There were quite a lot of people here who were only here for Robin and did not know much about Jack from conversations I overheard. The Queen’s Hall was nicely packed out as the duo started with “Bullets” from his Battles album. On the record it gets the full band treatment and is quite the rocking song; as a duo it still rocked, but in a more restrained way and was nonetheless enjoyable for it. You could see both Jack and Greg enjoying themselves – a quality start, and the crowd definitely enjoyed it judging by the reaction at the end.

The boys followed it up with another from the same album: the slower ballad “Road to Hell”, which showcased that heavy guitar tone and Greg’s bass filling in the blanks as Jack’s emotion-packed vocals filled the hall. Just quality stuff. The upcoming new album Soul Believer is out in January next year and we got a couple of tracks from it in the form of “Shine a Light” and “Burn”, both of which kept the audience going and bode well for the record.

Jack J Hutchinson (c) Gary Cooper

The next song was a particularly close one for him: “I Will Follow You”. It was written for his dad, a big rock fan who sadly had dementia. There are some songs that cannot be easy to play, and this definitely falls into that category; a quiet, respectful audience could tell. It was just a fabulous, emotional song. The rocking “Call of the Wild” took us nicely into the last song of the set with the title track from the new album, “Soul Believer”. It definitely delivered and made a few more believers here tonight; I look forward to hearing the whole album when it comes out next year. The full-band experience of Jack J Hutchinson is back in Edinburgh on 17th November at Bannermans. See you down the front, and catch the man when you can as there are a whole bunch of upcoming dates to pick from.

The main event arrived as Robin Trower and the band strolled onto the stage, plugged in, and got straight to business with “Too Rolling Stoned”, featuring Chris Taggart cruising along on drums and Richard Watts on bass and vocals. Robin just makes it look effortless and has a tone all his own. There is nothing flashy and no showing off – just a man in tune with his guitar. Chris was nailing that backbeat, as was Richard on bass along with his superb voice. Robin was completely lost in the groove in the later part of the song and it was a joy to watch.

We were treated to a couple from the upcoming album Shine, out later this month: “It’s Not Time” and the new single “Live Your Time”. Both easily slotted into the set with that slow, heavy groove that is central to Robin’s playing, complemented by Richard’s soulful voice, making the new album a most appealing prospect. One of my favourites followed with “Distant Places of the Heart”, probably due to its hints of Cream thanks to his pairing with Jack Bruce on the Seven Moons album.

Robin Trower (c) Gary Cooper

The groove-laden 70s swagger of “Somebody Calling” took us into “One Go Round”, before we got a double hit from the Bridge of Sighs album: the rocking “Day of the Eagle” before we crossed that “Bridge of Sighs”. It was probably the song a lot of people here were waiting for, and it certainly did not disappoint. The band then headed into “A Little Bit of Freedom” with its upbeat rhythm, followed by “No More Worlds to Conquer” and “Daydream”, before rocking out with “A Little Bit of Sympathy” to close the main set – one of the highlights of the night for me, and simply stunning.

The boys were not off stage for long before strolling back on to open the encore with “The Razor’s Edge”, before ending a brilliant night with an exquisite performance of “Birdsong”. Tonight was a masterclass in effortless guitar playing. It is hard to believe Robin is 81; his playing was breathless and he was obviously still loving every second, not even phased when one of his Marshall cabs packed in and had to be replaced during the first two songs. The band were in perfect sync all night, with Chris sublime on drums and Richard providing the perfect foil for Robin’s guitar tone with his rich, classic-sounding voice. A well-deserved standing ovation for the band at the end of a perfect night.

Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!

Pics by Gary Cooper Photography

Related