Robben Ford Discussion

[jconstant]

Looks like I have plans next Tuesday...

*Special public showcase for Robben's new CD release*

Date:  June 26, 2007
Doors:  7:00pm
Set-Time:  7:45-8:45  
Venue:  The Mint
Address:  6010 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035
Phone:  323-954-9400
Web Site:  http://www.themintla.com
Cover:  $15
_________________
"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

[PaulG]

Hi J.
Yea, I saw this from last weeks post by SFHalo. But I can't figure out what this is. I can't see Robben setting up for only an hour gig. Is this an early release party where we can get an early copy of Truth?
The Mint's website didn't give me any info as to what to expect.
If I'm making the drive, I'd want to hear some music or come away with a new cd.
Does anyone know what this entails?

[jconstant]

I wondered the same thing, Paul. But I did get this from Robben's Tour page and the schedule says his last gig was June 15 in Brazil and the next one isn't until July 5 in Spain. So I imagine he's got to be back in CA.

The Mint calendar lists the event simply as Robben Ford and they're charging $15 so I'm sure he'll be there.

Jim
_________________
"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

[jconstant]

I got my tickets for Tuesday's show. I also confirmed with Dena at the Mint the Robben will be there and quite a few people from Concord will be there as well (suits, not talent) It will be short and sweet because there's another group on 15 minutes after Robben is scheduled to end his set.

Personally I can't wait. I'd be surprised if Truth is available at the show too so it will be nice to get it a couple of weeks before the official release.
_________________
"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

[sotto]

I went to the show. The Mint turned out not to be a large venue at all. There was a short line when the doors opened, and most of the tables were reserved by Concord, so it was standing room only for the rest of us in the crowd.

I would estimate there were less than 100 people in the crowd. The tables were right next to the stage, and my wife and I stood right behind the tables directly in front of Robben. We were probably about 20-25 feet from the stage.

I had never seen Robben perform before, but I am a big fan (have his instructional videos etc). I was struck by several things:

By and large, it was very loud where we were standing. The first few tunes were not so loud, and then it started to escalate enough so I had to put in hearing protection. The only tune in the show I really recognized was "Lovin' Cup", but I'm a bit behind on Robben's repertoire. He also played the "Riley B. King" song he apparently co-wrote with Keb Mo.

I have no "standard" for Robben's "live" tone, but it was only somewhat like what I had become used to hearing on my earlier recordings of him, and on his instructional videos. He was using his Dumble set-up, and started the one-hour set with his Tele. For me, this was the best sounding guitar he played. He also played his other new custom guitar with the dual humbuckers and with the wood inlaid pickguard. I don't know what make it is (Baker??). For me, this did not sound as good as the Tele. At times, I felt his tone became "ice-picky". I didn't notice that about Mike Landau's tone (he appeared to be playing a Suhr type Strat maybe, and was using what looked like a Suhr head into a Vox cab).

Also, for me, the high point of Robben's tone and sound came during one of the early numbers when he was using the Tele and clearly switched to the neck pickup. Very sweet beautiful bluesy sound--nothing I'd heard from Robben's recordings before. Very striking, indeed, and I'd like to hear a lot more of that.

There were moments when Robben played absolutely great blistering licks. He did a lot of vocals, but truly there were many times when the sound level sound was so loud that his vocals nearly became lost. About this sound level issue, I have to say that I've often wondered what level he actually plays at, given that my impression of him has always been that he is a very tasteful, musical, talented, and knowledgeable musician. I was quite surprised that the sound level seemed over the top (IMHO) and musically detrimental to my appreciation of his vocals and his playing. As a caveat, I work in the hearing science field and I may be more sensitive to this issue than most. Nevertheless, probably 5-10 dB less overall would definitely have enhanced the quality of the show substantially.

My wife, who had only seen and heard Robben play in some of my videos, had some funny comments. About Robben's appearance: "Why does he blink so forcibly and frequently? Doesn't he know that his hair is getting in the corner of his mouth when he sings, and why doesn't he get it out? He seems to intentionally look at the floor or up at the ceiling much of the time when he's singing or talking to the crowd...why doesn't he look at the people?" She also said: "He's no Brian Setzer." Ha ha, I had to point out that was a whole other genre of music, but she's a Setzer fan and has seen him several times live. But I got her point. Robben's stage presence is of a different type than Setzer's, for sure, but I believe she was pointing out a difference in the stage personalities and "entertainment factor" of the two artists, which (good or bad) is clearly different.

With respect to the personality factor, I really have only one or two observations/comments. Almost immediately after the show started, Robben looked at someone stage right and said fairly loudly "Can that shit!" or something to that effect. Someone from the crowd asked "What happened" and Robben looked over and said "Someone was taking a picture and I'm shy". (BTW, I didn't see any flash go off at all). Anyway, almost immediately he grabbed his head and said, "Oh, that's Jessica! She's part of our group. Oh, I'm so sorry! Jessica you can do anything at all you want to do. I'm very sorry."

Oh, also after the first number or two, he said "How many in the crowd are from Concord (Records)? You guys aren't making enough noise!" (or something to that affect). He said it good naturedly and with a smile, but I thought for a moment, "Hmmmm, is it a good idea to chide your guests (even good naturedly) from your recording company?"

Regarding the band: Mike Landau was the other guitar player, and I would say he suited the job well and sound generally very good. I'd never seen him live before except for youtube. There was a bass player who seemed alright but whose stage demeanor resembled a bobble-head doll. He took at least one solo during one of the numbers, and from where I was standing, his tone was very muddy and indistinct. I didn't care for him. The drummer was OK. Some keys would have been nice.

These are just my impressions as a Robben fan, but someone who'd never seen him live before, and someone who at least recently hasn't gone to a lot of live shows in smaller venues. Overall, I was very happy to have seen Robben, and am still very impressed with his chops and singing. I wish I could have heard the peformance more clearly and without the distortion and masking related to the high sound levels, maybe partially the house's fault, although as I said I was close to the stage. Maybe this is also related to having a band with basically two lead guitar players (smile).

The best parts of the show for me were the quieter sections where I could really enjoy Robben's voice and the great technical guitar work. Also, the few parts where Robben talked to the crowd smiling and looking them straight in the eyes. Being able to see Robben up close and relatively inexpensively was also nice. (The Mint is only about 20 minutes from my house.) The 1 hour show was concluded by 9 p.m. which I also liked (I get up at 5 a.m. to go to work!).

BTW, I really enjoy checking out this forum every now and then. Thanks!

[jconstant]

Sotto, I wish I would have know you were going to be there, we could have said ‘hello’. I was sitting at the 2 seater table with my girlfriend to your left.

Anyway, Sotto covered a lot of what I would have said so I’ll just add my 2 cents…

Robben switched between the Tele and the Sakashta between, what seemed like at least, every song they played. He seemed to be fussing with his equipment a lot more than usual. He didn’t seem happy with the tuning on the Tele, adjusting it several times during a couple of tunes. There was a time when he was also fussing with his Dumble head and rack equipment. I’ve seen him go nights where his doesn’t mess with anything – last night he just seemed to be messing with stuff quite a lot. Daved wasn’t there so I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I’ve seen the guy who was there helping Robben and although I’ve seen him with Robben for many years, I still don’t know his name or exactly was his job with Robben is.

The bass player was Chris Chaney and we didn’t hear much from him, as Sotto said, except for one short solo. If you’ve every seen him play before, you probably know that’s just his style to lay low and do what he’s there to do. He’s not looking for the spotlight. I think he’s a great player.

Gary Novak was on drums and of course he’s a very solid drummer. My only issue with Gary is that he’s very loud a lot of the time. I’ll be lucky if I ever play with a drummer as good as Gary, so don’t get me wrong. I think I was just spoiled by Tom Brechtlein and Vinnie Colaiuta, both of whom just ooze finesse.

Mike Landau sounded great, as usual. I’m becoming more of a fan of his the more I hear him.

I enjoyed hearing a few of the new tunes from Truth, but wish there would have been even more. They did play Gabriel Ford’s ‘Too Much’, Robben’s ‘Peace on My Mind’ and another song which I think may be the one you hear a clip of when you go to the splash page of his new website, but I can’t be sure. And the only other one from Truth that I remember was ‘Riley B. King’. They also pulled out some old ones such as The Way that You Treated Me, Lovin’ Cup, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood and Cannonball Shuffle. The encore was Supernatural, which was a nice surprise. One funny thing about the encore was that as Robben was strapping on his guitar, someone behind me yelled ‘Help the Poor’! Robben laughed and said something like ‘Come on..that’s amazing’, just shaking his head as if to say ‘you can’t be serious.’

I think the sound was a problem last night. Again, as Sotto said, most of the time you could hardly hear Robben’s vocals, except on the slower parts. The mint is a very small place so it’s hard to turn up much at all and not have it be loud. But the mix wasn’t very good overall. I was the first one there and some guy opened the door before 6:30 to set a chair outside and he said ‘Go ahead and step inside for a few if you want to listen to the sound check. Of course that’s why I was standing by the door in the first place so I jumped at the offer. Frankly, I thought the sound during the sound check was a hell of a lot better than during the show. I still can’t wait to sit down with the new album and really listen closely to the new material so I can really hear how it supposed to sound.

Robben played the shit out of those two guitars last night. He was very animated a lot of the time, sometimes almost pounding on the guitar, and played some mind blowing phrases. I know what he can do and he still throws stuff out there that just amazes me.

Oh, Jessica, the girl that took the flash picture standing right behind me when she did it – that was Gary Novak’s girlfriend (wife?). After Robben was informed it was her and said what Sotto mentioned he turned back to Gary and apologized. Gary seemed to think it was hilarious and was having a good laugh about it.

I was very disappointed that ‘Truth’ wasn’t being sold at the show, but I guess ‘released August 7th’ really means not until August 7th.
And as much as I enjoyed the show and seeing Robben tear it up again, I’ve gotta say the group just wasn’t that tight. Again, I think I’ve been spoiled by other performances that have seemed just perfect. And maybe it’s because it’s the first night with a lot of new material. I’ll look forward to seeing him again along the tour and I’m sure it will be much tighter.

The Mint was cool and I’d love to go back. I was surprised at how good the food was. Normally these places server mediocre food at best and this was quite good.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten to the point I’m talking about the food, I think that’s a clue to myself that I’ve reached the end of what I have to say.

Jim
_________________
"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

[sotto]

Jconstant:

Sorry I missed you at the show, and I enjoyed reading your comments very much. You were the couple whose food I was looking at thinking, "Hey, that doesn't look like just any ordinary "normal" bar food!" Were those 3 burgers I saw Kobe beef by any chance? I love that stuff.

And, yeah, Robben played the shit out of those guitars for sure!

[Daved]

[sotto]

Oh, I also meant to comment on Robben's floor effects: 3 of them. What appeared to be some kind of wah pedal, a volume pedal, and a plain vanilla aluminum chassis box about 4 inches square with a tilting top and I think 2 foot switches (as best as I recall). There was no "Zendrive" per se there unless that was disguised in the plain vanilla aluminum chassis box. Mike Landau on the other hand had a Fort Knox of pedals on the floor.

[PaulG]

Great reviews!!! It's always interesting to hear someone's first impression of 'live' Robben. And, I'm not surprised you were the first to be there, JC.
Bummer that Truth was not available. Would've seemed a proper perk for a coming out party.
I'm glad to hear that Robben is back to playing the Tele. I haven't seen it for a couple years.

Again, nice reviews guys!

[jconstant]

[patfitz]

Thanks for the review guys. I really appreciate it, not wanting
to drive from SF to LA for a 1 hour show. A couple things
I would like to mention. Robben seems to me to be more
of a Jazz/Blues style musician, with the emphasis on musician.
So, if you are going to a show don't expect to see him galavanting
around acting like a big Rock and Roll star. Although with his
credentials he easily could. He is there to play.
Also, apparently he doesn't like cameras, who does?
Let's remember who and what killed the Princess.
So, if you are going to a show, show some respect!
Nothing pisses me off than to see Robben get distracted from
his playing 'cause some Bozo has pulled a 10 pound camera out
from under his coat and has started flashing at Robben.
This happened at Moe's Alley and we, (the audience), got the
guy to put it away.
'nuff said.
-pf

[jconstant]

Another interesting thing (to me at least) came to mind after I made my previous post. On our way home I asked my girlfriend what she thought of the show. She said it was good, but it was more 'rock' than normal. I think she said that because she's used to more bluesy stuff and more singing from Robben. I think part of it had to do with there being two guitar players and no keys. And as much as I think Mike Landau is a fantastic player, I have to admit, I prefer someone like Bill Boblitz or Jeff Babko smokin' on a B3.

I just found that to be an interesting response. Not really a criticism, just an observation, really.
_________________
"Somebody's got to make some music around here." - Robben Ford

[Rad Rob]

bummed i missed this show!