SALISBURY'S guitar fans had a double treat on Thursday night when Robin
Trower played at the City Hall, with Joanne Shaw Taylor in support.
Robin Trower must be one of the longest-serving musicians around, having
started in the fertile Southend music scene in the 1960s. He recently
celebrated his 70th birthday with a new album and a concert tour, with its
penultimate date at the City Hall on Thursday.
Unusually for an artist with a new album to promote, the concert covered his
career right back to early days. Robin Trower plays the guitar with great
emotion and intensity, bending the strings and stretching the notes out for
ever. His style is very effective and expressive, and instantly
recognisable.
Midway through the set the lights dimmed and the band launched into the
title track of the breakthrough album Bridge of Sighs. The opening chords
prompted an appreciative ripple of applause in recognition, and the song
sounded as fresh and as powerful to my old ears as when I first heard it
back in the 1970s.
The evening opened with a set from Joanne Shaw Taylor and her band, making a
very welcome return after her successful headline gig here last November.
She is an excellent guitarist, with roots in the Blues. Her soulful and
smoky vocals are well suited to strong ballads and her singing of her own
song Jealousy was immense.
This was a great evening showcasing two great musicians, both with mastery
of their craft but using it to express themselves in quite different ways.
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