A charismatic legend, Walter Trout, and a new star in the making , Laura Evans, combine to enthral us with a mix of soulful and rocky blues in Southport.

LAURA EVANS

Laura Evans opened the evening with some slow stomping blues and delivering a Solo with a soulful vocal, ably assisted by the nifty fretwork of guitarist Jo Hazell who also kept up a punchy beat with his foot drum. Very much emulating Bonnie Raitt with If You Need Somebody, her smooth vocals contrasted well with Jo’ s chunky guitar. With some dampened guitar notes accompanying her, Nobody Loves Me Like You was an exquisite smoky bar, blues number.

Her blues shifts from shuffly to more hard edged; Superman contains some chunky guitar work. Laura is accustomed to award winning performances and recorded music and finished her entertaining set with I’m Alright from her debut album State Of Mind , which will also be destined to receive much acclaim.

WALTER TROUT

Many blues guitarists have earned themselves hero status, and septuagenarian Walter Trout received his fair share of hero worship as he took the stage. Although we had just witnessed an incredibly powerful performance from Laura Evans, the volume was immediately cranked up. And that was just in his warm up, before he blasted into I Can Tell. Any malaise or dour thoughts from anyone who entered the theatre were immediately evaporated. He promised a rowdy evening and that’s what we got as he powered into Walking In The Rain and Wanna Dance.

Any doubts he may feel about loss of memory cells seem unimaginable as he hardly dropped a note or a word all night. He regaled us with memories from his time with Canned Heat and John Mayall were best forgotten but he paid sensitive tribute to the great John Mayall, who mentored and guided him in his spell with the father of the blues. Indeed their relationship was like a father-son one. Say Goodbye To The Blues was played as a huge tribute , stirring up memories of playing alongside Mick Taylor and John Mcvie, blues legends in themselves.

HARMONICA VIRTUOSO

He brought on blues harmonica virtuoso Will Wilde whose playing on Rolling With The Blues added another dimension to band, especially the trading of licks between guitar and harmonica..

There was a moment of solemnity when he marked 39 years of marriage with a song dedicated to his wife . There wasn’t one quiver in his voice as he sang Mona Lisa Smile. This melancholic song may have contradicted his announcement that “we don’t do mellow,” but it did show he has a sentimental side.

His band sported twin guitars tonight or rather father-son guitars as he gave his Masters degree son, Jon, centre stage in We’re All In This Together. Certainly much has been passed on, exemplified by an excellent call and response duet. Jon has even adopted his dad’s knee jerk!!

An unexpected re-tune was needed when he gave in to the demands of Dutch keyboard player Roland Bakker on the AI protest tune Artificial. Not surprising as he is a big chap not one to be picking arguments with on or off stage!

Tributes again flowed from his past experiences as he recalled playing alongside John Lee Hooker when he covered Serves You Right To Suffer. Despite the amusing recall of a moment of undecipherable advice from the master blues legend, his time with him was exciting and enlightening – as we all were from tonight’s performance which taught any veteran musicians in the audience to never give in.

CAMEOS

The evening ended with cameo solo performances from his band. On keys we were given a brief Thijs Van Leer moment, then much acclaimed bassist John Avila whose portfolio of artists he has appeared with is second to none took centre stage – and covered most of it really during his solo producing extraordinary sounds from a bass. As he pranced around he was astoundingly wild and raucous, at times almost like a lead guitarist. Their newest member, drummer Ken Hickman , played a stunning piece. Some drummers might need a multi-piece drum kit, but tonight his basic set up sufficed to show his wide range of percussive skills.

Sadly, curfew restrictions curtailed the evening and denied us an encore but there wasn’t a disappointed fan in the room. We must have enjoyed well over 50 years worth of Walter’s brand of blues and if he can maintain the musical, mental and physical stamina and agile finger work shown tonight hopefully we will get plenty more.

Walter Trout: Website

Laura Evans: Website

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