XDA

Went last night with a gang (Mark, old college friend Gary, and Curt the Carpenter Saint) to the Gothic Theater on South Broadway in Denver to see Robin Trower. We might have gotten there too soon as we had to endure the opening act, local band Jaded Poet, who kind of epitomized all that was bad about the 80s hair bands. I really hated these guys. The only interesting fellow was guitarist, Muno, who looks Indian to me, and is a bit of a fret wanker. And why have 5 strings on your bass if you're only going to hit the top two? In Hell these guys would be consigned to playing Time Warp over and over again forever. I've already spent more time on them than their talents deserve.

Trower was pretty darn good but the last time I saw him was with Procul Harum quite a few decades ago so his physical appearance was something of a shock. He could be 80 (born 3/9/45 in Catford, London, England, he's only 61--could have fooled me). There was an Alice through the looking glass twist on The Portrait of Dorian Grey to the night--Trower ages badly but his music stays just the same (doing the Time Warp indeed). His squarish nose is exactly the same. No spring chickens ourselves, we were already joking about the number of aged people in the audience before Trower came on, calling it Geezer Fest and Geezerpalooza-estimating that the average age of the crowd, including the 50 or so young women as temperers, was about 45. When Trower took the stage, the average age went up a full year. He plays, we noticed, through twin Marshalls in a slave/master set up (to use the Nietzschean term). Pretty loud in a big sounding, still-using-tubes-to-amplify sort of way

The four guys in the band could not have looked more British if they had been wearing Union Jack T-shirts, Tottenham scarves, had their passports out and were singing God Save the Queen. Gary, who does know music (even if he is a bit of a know it all--I should talk), said everyone but Trower was American. My ass. I'm just kidding him. We stayed up to 3 drinking Kirin ichiban and tequila and talking music and philosophy with Mark (Curt had to work the next day and left early).

Trower's default position is E minor 7. Most of his solos started and ended on that chord (Mark told me that--I can't recognize a chord just from hearing it). I could see that he plays with only three fingers (like Robbie Robertson) which has to be a little limiting. The coolest thing about Trower is that he makes it seem pretty effortless and smooth, like the old black dancers doing a slow soft shoe elegantly. The most impressive thing is that there was not a 20 note period of play that you would not have recognized as Trower's. I'm blown away. Think of all the guitarists you have ever heard and how few have achieved that sort of distinction of style and sound that you would recognize the player even if you didn't know the song--Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Fripp, maybe Clapton and... as I say it's a pretty exclusive club. Very impressive.

Curt, who I think plays the guitar very well, caught a pick from Trower but gave it to a younger, very enthusiastic fan with a cute girlfriend. I thought the guy was going to cry with gratitude. All and all a very impressive concert, I just wish the sound system had been a little more balanced so I could have better heard the singer, Davy Pattison, who was an excellent replacement for Jimmy Dewar who died a few years back. The guitar came through fine though and, let's face it, that's why we were there in the first place.

I'm going to finish up with this. Not all great guitarists bend the notes on the frets, Robert Fripp doesn't, David Gilmour only uses the twang bar, but I think it makes the difference in a subtle way, perhaps all the difference in a guitar style that has its birth deep in the blues but has transcended what passed for great in the Mississippi delta 80 years ago. Trower bends the heck out of the strings and it gives his playing a soul or, if that's too religious a reference, a human edge that is so pleasurable--like a big pat of butter on perfectly cooked ear of corn or a biscuit. I'm glad that Trower is still touring and I thank those who twisted my arm to get me there last night to hear him.