April 27, 1998

Read an interview with Robin Trower.

Robin Trower
Sons of Doctors
House Of Blues - 18 April 1998

Robin Trower was one of the premier guitar players from the 70's. Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Cream and other blues rock guitar players of the era, he left Procol Harem and started his own band in the early 70's. He met critical success with his first album, Twice Removed From Yesterday and reached hero status with his critically acclaimed and commercially successful Bridge of Sighs.

Saturday night at the House Of Blues, Robin showed why he is still looked upon as a guitar hero with a stunning set that brought continuous cheers from the good-sized crowd. The sound system, generally excellent for most shows, was the best I have heard to date for any show at the HOB. Robin opened with "Too Rolling Stoned" (my personal favorite Trower song), and continued throughout the short 90 minute set mixing hits that are played regularly on the radio ("Day of the Eagle" and "Bridge of Sighs") along with new songs from his recent CD, Someday Blues. Robin sings for the first time on his new CD, and his voice works well on his choice of material.

The crowd included fans that had driven from Tampa, Jacksonville, Ocala and other points spread all over the state, and they were rewarded with great guitar playing. Robin has a fairly simple live stage rig and is able to get a wide range of tones from very few effects. His sound ranged from his classic "airy" shimmering guitar sound to a very up front "in your face" blues sound. The evening included plenty of super blues guitar fretwork, which I could listen to for hours.
	Trower spent a lot of the time on stage with a big smile on his face, clearly enjoying himself and responding to the positive energy of the crowd. The crowd included one fan who had a 3' x 4' picture frame with over 30 Trower CD covers under glass with him. Most of the CD's were signed from previous shows, and he intended to get the rest of the CD's signed that night after the show. Robin did come out for a meet and greet about 30 minutes after the show ended. He was very personable and clearly was enjoying the whole evening as much as the fans.
Opening act Sons of Doctors put on a better show than the last time I saw them open for Foghat. Their sound was also excellent, and they were also highly appreciated by the crowd. It was clearly a rock and roll crowd, and both Sons of Doctors and Robin Trower delivered. Sons of Doctors, basically a cover band, does spot-on covers of songs by Journey, Kansas, Styx, Starship and similar bands. These songs are not for bands weak vocally or musically, and Sons of Doctors is neither. They too seemed to be having as much fun as the crowd. Great sound, great music, excellent opening act, hey I have to give the evening a 10 all around!

Murf Murphy Murf is a registered professional engineer....(i.e. haircut and a real job) who loves to play guitar. Vist Murf's home page. He lives with (1) wife who wishes he would grow up, (1) teenager who wonders how his parents got to this point in their lives without his help, (2) dogs who sleep a lot, (1) ferret who attacks when not looking and (1) cat who is basically useless. Other Articles I've Written