PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Outstanding is an often overused term. When used to describe former Procul Harum guitarist Robin Trower however, there is hardly an adjective more fitting on this evidence. Yet this isn’t a night owned solely by Trower and his superb backing band of Richard Watts on bass and vocals and Christopher Taggart on drums. The Steve Nimmo Trio are a powerhouse triumvirate that simply ooze quality. Storming into the opening Roll the Dice Again, the audience are in thrall from the outset. With Craig Bacon on drums and Mat Beable on bass providing a dynamic thrust, Nimmo is all energy during a thirty minute set that flies over far too quickly.
Sky Must Fall in an epic album, and it’s mainly tracks from it that make up the list on offer this evening. Good Day for the Blues is an exception, it’s cool harmony and guttural vocalisation giving the live version an extra dimension to that featured on Wynds of Life.
Yet the highlight from Nimmo comes with Running On Back To You, with its sumptuous solo setting the song alight so that the crowd are in awe by its climax. A magnificent set and just a taste of what to expect when the band hit the road again in the spring.
Robin Trower takes the stage and immediately cranks up the energy with Too Rolling Stoned from the landmark 1974 Bridge of Sighs album. With Richard Watts taking the vocals, Trower is allowed to focus fully on playing and rips out some guitar work that is magisterial in its control.
Yet Trower doesn’t leave the vocals to Watts alone. An electrifying version of the title track from his latest offering, Where You Are Going To, is so laid back it becomes almost coolly horizontal, whereas Day of the Eagle becomes a different animal altogether in the live setting: all slide and chops, with some exquisite backing from those around him.
Yet it is Bridge of Sighs that ultimately steals the night, its riffs and breaks being chopped out like a fine sculptor fashioning a thing of beauty from freshly felled oak. Then, just as we think there is nothing left to be astonished by, along comes Little Bit of Sympathy which is so blisteringly good, it has the packed audience of The Chester Live Rooms roaring its approval.
A night of pure musical excellence, the only thing lacking from the headline being a little more audience interaction. A tale or two from an era defining career would undoubtedly have added just a little more glitter to an already sparkling evening. Yet in the absence of repartee, there remains the music and that will take a long time to remove from the memory banks.
Robin Trower + Special Guest, The Stevie Nimmo Trio
The Chester Live Rooms
October 8th, 2016
PM RATING: **** Searing Stuff
Set Lists:
The Steve Nimmo Trio
Roll the Dice Again
Still Hungry
Good Day for the Blues
Running On Back To You
Change
Robin Trower
Too Rolling Stoned
See My Life
Not Inside Out
Where You Are Going To
Somebody Calling
Day of the Eagle
Bridge of Sighs
The Turning
Holding On To You
Confessing Midnight
Daydream
Little Bit of Sympathy
Encore
Rise Up Like The Sun
For Earth Below
