WALTER TROUT
Boom Boom Club, Sutton, Surrey
10 October 2006
It's a measure of guitarist Walter Trout's current popularity
that he was able to sell out the Sutton's Boom Boom Club by word of mouth at ten
days notice.
The former John Mayall Blues Breaker, John Lee Hooker and
Canned Heat guitarist has come ‘Full Circe' as the title of his current album
suggests. In the 16 or so years since stepping out from under Mayall's wing he
has released fifteen albums and has now firmly ensconced himself in the Top Ten
of the Billboard Blues chart for over three months. And the reason for this
success lies as much in his relentless road work and his loyal fan base as in
the impressive all star cast on the new album.
The really great thing about Trout as evinced by this
celebratory show is the way he reacts to his crowd. Unlike so many of his
contemporaries, Walter is a natural story teller both in his songs and in his
humorous on stage banter. There never appears to be a set list and as was the
case tonight there were moments of inspired spontaneity
Inevitably there were highlights from the new album including a
tough rendition of his new riff driven ‘Workin' Overtime', recorded with Jeff
Healey and the delicate feel of the meandering blues ‘She Takes More Than She
Gives', recorded with former boss John Mayall. Walter also dipped into his early
career for a fiery ‘Life in the Jungle' the kind of number that beautifully
combines heartfelt lyrics with glistening guitar work, as well as a quite
beautiful instrumental dedicated to his wife called ‘Marie's Mood'.
But it was with an unlikely conjoining of The Beatles with John
Lee Hooker that the band took the roof off the place. Having rocked the house
with an impromptu ‘I Saw Her Standing There' Walter climaxed the show with a now
familiar but nonetheless stunning version of ‘It Serves Me RightTo Suffer' These
are good times for Walter Trout and on the evidence of this show you can see
why.
Earlier Brit blues rocker Roadhouse earned themselves a fine
reception with boisterous set based around the impressive songs of guitarist
Gary Boner. His Americana style anthems such as ‘Blues Highway' and ‘Voodoo
Queen' may be of a Lynyrd Skynyrd influenced bygone era, but it is impressive
stuff nonetheless.
Review by Pete Feenstra
Album review
