Very late review of this gig from May 18th
I bought tickets to see Robben Ford in an effort to improve my blues guitar playing or at least to inspire me further in that direction. For those not in the know, Robben is probably one of the most technically proficient blues guitarists on the planet and unlike many of his contemporaries, adds a great deal of colour to his playing by mixing in numerous jazz influences rather than relying on the same old Chicago blues clichés – in the early 80's Robben was in the seminal jazz-fusion outfit The Yellowjackets. Over the years Robben has been in demand as a sideman to many of the greats, working as the touring guitarist for Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and George Harrison to name a few.
Club Academy is a pretty small venue one would have thought for a guitarist with such a pedigree, however it was only about half full by the time Robben and his band came on. It seemed like he was pretty much just going through the motions and didn’t really respond to the crowds shouts for earlier material – he just plugged his new stuff all night.
Ford is no singer and at best can just about carry a tune, however this lack of technical vocal ability was overshadowed by his cringe worthy lack of skill as a lyricist – which was almost the polar opposite of his guitar prowess… perhaps he should pursue an instrumental direction in future.
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