Joined: 16 Jun 2004 Posts: 56 Location: Mesa , Arizona (Its a Dry Heat!)
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:09 pm Post subject: Robben with John Mayall in Arizona
Let me say first that it was a real treat to finally see Robben in person. As you are all aware he is touring John Mayall and the Bluebreakers. They played at the Ikeda Theater located at Mesa Center for Performing Arts in Mesa, Arizona. First time I had been to the venue and it fantastic acoustically.
The show opened with Eric Bibb on acoustic and Eric is excellent. If you are not familar with Eric he plays kind of a Keb Mo style but with much smoother vocals. Definately worth a listen.
After Eric was done Robben come on playing the Red Les Paul into his Super Reverb. As best I could tell, Robbens amp was not through the house PA. He was just a loud if not louder than Buddy Wittington was though the PA. The tone of the LP was a little thin, not bad but not what I expected.
If was one of those nights for Robben. On the first note of the second song he popped the high E on his guitar and ended up playing the next two songs on 5 strings. This is where the fun began. Robben called off stage to get his back up guitar. It was still on the bus the best I could tell. After a couple of minutes Robben walked up to the mic and said something to the effect of sometimes "SH(T happens" and the crowd roared. So while they waited for the back up LP, Buddy lent him something that looked like a Strat on top and a Tele on the bottom. It did sound great through the super reverb.
After they completed the song who should stroll out with Robbens backup Les Paul (59 Historic), John Mayall of course. Robben made a comment about the worlds most expense guitar tech (and maybe the oldest). I guess they are running a tight budget show. No guitar techs etc. Heck John Mayall setup his own keyboard on stage.
FWIW. the tone of the Historic was much better than the Red LP. At least from where I was sitting. Much fuller sounding.
Mayall's playing was excellent, the encores with Robben and Eric were great.
Hope Robben comes back to the land of sand again in the near future.
Gary _________________ -------------------------------------------------------
Playing Bass, one thump at a time.
www.glaswerks.com www.tsjband.com
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Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 2:39 pm Post subject:
Really nice review there, Gary! I'm glad that you finally got to see Robben live! After this, and several other write ups, I can't wait to see this "group"...
Joined: 19 Sep 2003 Posts: 646 Location: City of Trees, USA
Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2005 4:55 pm Post subject:
Thanks for the great report! If you couldn't have guessed that the BB's are traveling on a budget, Mayall's "Road Dogs" (with which he opened the second half of the show at Lancaster) tells it all. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all crammed into that station wagon he refers to in the song.
Also, glad you finally got to hear Robben in person. Worth waiting for, I assume. _________________ - BlueRunner
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Thanks for the great report! If you couldn't have guessed that the BB's are traveling on a budget, Mayall's "Road Dogs" (with which he opened the second half of the show at Lancaster) tells it all. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all crammed into that station wagon he refers to in the song.