Support: Roshani
Factory Theatre, Sydney
Saturday, 31st of March 2018
It has been thirty years since blues guitar legend Walter Trout has graced our shores. In that time interval of his absence, the man has reportedly released twenty six albums and also, through his own drive and the unyielding compassionate support of his loyal wife and family, endured crushing health issues that necessitated a liver transplant. The impact of that event almost took his guitar playing skills away, not to mention the ability to communicate. To have the man powering through blues guitar songs on a live stage today, given what he has endured is really quite incredible. In that light, those fans aware of these setbacks were present with a greater sense of appreciation for him being there and playing an intimate club show. The smiles on the faces in the crowd when Walter and band appeared on stage remained throughout.
Before Walter and band hit the stage, local Sir Lankan born singer and harmonica player Roshani Priddis aka Roshani, accompanied by her partner Tim Everett whose finger style blues on a resonator guitar kicked things off for the eager crowd. Opening with a cover of ‘Black Lightning’ by The Bellrays, Everett’s slide guitar riffs on an open tuned instrument worked well in unison with Roshani’s command of the harmonica. Her vocals soared during the following original tunes of ‘Work’ and ‘Sunshine’, both of which offered a lyrical backstory on the duo’s unconventional lifestyle of ditching the grind to travel and busk around Australia in a reconfigured van.
Throughout the half hour support act set, Everett was seated, adding some backbeat with his right foot stomp box foot drum whilst Roshani stood nearby and leant into the microphone when letting loose with powerful vocal delivery. A cover of the blues classic ‘Crossroads’ was largely harmonica and vocal driven with the guitar keeping the tune running smoothly underneath. Another original song titled ‘In Your Love’ again demonstrated her impressive vocal strength after which the duo ended their set with another song about feeling free and escaping the rat race.
Looking onto the stage set awaiting Walter to appear, his wife strolled on to briefly introduce the show and provide a bit of background about his aforementioned challenges advising that ‘every note he plays now is filled with gratitude for life and joy’. Much applause followed as Walter appeared and securely strapped on his vintage cream coloured Fender Stratocaster to warm up with a quick bunch of blues licks whilst the band took their places. Starting the show as a four piece, veteran keyboard player and loyal Trout band mate Sam Avila took to his Hammond XK3 organ linked to rotating Leslie speakers and added spicy blues to the rhythm section of drummer Michael Leasure from The Edgar Winter Band and the finger style bass power of his slightly metal influenced looking long haired son, Danny Avila. The first song was ‘I Can Tell’ from the Tellin’ Stories album and it simply flew past with blues ferocity seguing into a fiery cover of the Luther Allison song ‘I’m Back’.
As Trout let rip with some of the most intense blues guitar playing this reviewer has witnessed, his energy was infectious and the pace kept up when he went to the microphone to deliver his suitably gravelly yet clear vocal parts. Purists might not be into the idea of a blues guitarist playing though a Mesa Boogie amplifier but Trout’s tone, further enhanced by a tube screamer pedal, was simply fantastic. His dexterity and ability to use feel with different pickup selections and volume controls during the set also indicated his use of dynamics so that the show was not a complete bludgeoning of constant blues soloing. Further to that, his anecdotes and brief stories between some songs were listened to attentively and as captivating as his live performance whereby he throws his rejuvenated body into things, kicking his leg, swinging his guitar up high or over to the side plus unleashing an array of facial expressions in tune with his genuinely emotive guitar playing chock full of tasteful pentatonic blues runs, passing notes and a wide yet controlled vibrato.
The song ‘Say Goodbye to the Blues’ from the Prisoner of a Dream which was dedicated to his incommensurate mentor of B.B. King was a classic example of Trout’s sense of taste and feel with howling volume swells ushering in extended solos making the track last up to twelve minutes and without a dull moment. Introducing a couple of songs from his autobiographical album Battle Scars, Trout commented that the songs were ‘dark, graphic, morbid and depressing but that’s the blues’.
Both the tracks ‘Almost Gone’ and ‘Cold, Cold Ground’ were bolstered by backing vocals from the band with the latter containing a show highlight guitar solo that traversed the sonic range of the guitar with impressive guitar playing that was reminiscent of say Stevie Ray Vaughan channelling Jimi Hendrix’s style.
Changing the mood to simply having fun, ‘Gonna Hurt Like Hell’ from the latest We’re All in this Together album allowed for Walter’s son Jon Trout to join the band onstage and trade off with Walter on Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s guitar parts. Thanking the crowd given the album hit number one on the Australian blues charts, Trout set a happy vibe that fed into the trade-off guitar jamming that followed. It was also great to see Jon, Walter and Danny gathered around Sammy as he peeled off tasty blues licks on his cool sounding keyboard.
Of course, every blues show needs some slow blues but the real skill is playing that style with conviction. Trout delivered by the truckload with the song he penned with his ‘surrogate father’ John Mayall titled ‘The Blues Came Callin’’, a song about mortality and deep reflection, awaiting a new liver whilst in an almost skeletal state. Jon’s solo, whilst very good and fluid, was unintentionally upstaged by Walter’s expressive musical conviction and finesse revealed through phrasing, accents, volume swells, timing, attack of pre-bent notes and just overall note choice. The pace sped up for ‘Playin’ Hideaway’, another from Battle Scars that encouraged a crowd sing along.
Clearly putting in the hard yards, Walter joked that the ‘best times in my life have all been when I was hot and sweaty’ to introduce the title track from We’re All in this Together with Jon playing the duet guitar parts of Joe Bonamassa with incredible precision to the recorded track. The two guitarists duelled centre stage whilst bass and drums kept the turnarounds in time, locking down the driving, walking riff.
A heartfelt ballad followed in the form of ‘Please Take Me Home’ with Jon on acoustic guitar. Walter explained the personal origin of lyric and the song being a tribute to Walter’s wife. The blues guitar intensity soon returned with another soloing highlight during ‘Serve Me Right to Suffer’ from the Life in the Jungle album with the band returning to a four piece mode. Imagine Gary Moore playing with Jeff Beck and Eric Johnson for an idea of what how that solo sounded. It was brilliantly executed and then allowed for Walter to have a break as a five minutes fusion finger style bass solo with drums followed, as did an incrementally fast two minute drum solo.
Walter returned and the band launched into a cover of ‘Going Down’ by The Alabama State Troupers which naturally turned into a soulful jamming song. The song included a primarily spoken interlude where he quipped, ‘I did five years in Canned Heat and ended up needing another liver’ and also discussed the importance of organ donations plus band member introductions. Coaxing some tasty blues licks the song was reprised to close off the main set with some deft guitar soloing and a dash of feedback from the amplified cabinet.
As the encore then started off with some guitar soloing, it soon became evident it was a straight ahead 12 bar blues cover of Chuck Berry’s rock’n’roll tune’ Little Queenie’. The crowd sang along with Walter who smattered guitar flourishes between the chorus parts an audience call and response sing along plus a quick rendition of ‘Waltzing Matilda’. It offered an upbeat vibe to end the show on which had been a roller coaster ride of emotions delivered through incendiary guitar playing and a tight, experienced backing blues band. If you’re a blues guitar fan, do whatever you can to see Walter Trout and band play live – you will not be disappointed. Walter Trout has so much raw talent and delivers a tangible level of sincerity rarely seen in the music industry.
I Can Tell
I’m Back [Luther Allison cover]
Say Goodbye to the Blues
Almost Gone
Cold, Cold Ground
Gonna Hurt Like Hell
The Blues Came Callin’
Playin’ Hideaway
We’re All in this Together
Please Take Me Home
Serve Me Right to Suffer
Bass & Drum Solo
Going Down [The Alabama State Troupers cover]
Little Queenie [Chuck Berry cover].