Robin Trower – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London - 5th September 2026

Review by Robert Corich

There are guitarists, there are great guitarists, there are guitarists where the skill is superlative and then there is Robin Trower.

At Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night, Trower delivered a performance that served as a pretty emphatic reminder that, at 81, he is certainly one of the best living guitarist still playing at this level. Not the fastest, not the flashiest and certainly not the sort of player who needs to prove anything to anybody. Trower simply plugs that beautiful Strat in, turns that sound loose and somehow makes the guitar appear to bend around him.

And what a sound.

His swirling, psychedelic blues-rock, the enormous sustain, the wah-wah, the space between the notes and that unmistakable Stratocaster voice were all there. And, as there so often is with Trower, there were shades of Jimi Hendrix — not imitation, never that, but in the way he uses feedback, distortion, dynamics and the guitar itself as an instrument of expression rather than simply something to play notes on. Trower took some of Hendrix’s vocabulary and made it unmistakably his own.

Which is perhaps why this was, in effect, the mid-1970s delivered on acid. Well, without the acid actually — if you know what I mean.

The opening “Too Rolling Stoned” was followed by “Live Your Time”, the first available track from Trower’s forthcoming studio album Shine. Later came “It’s Not Time”, another new song from Shine, although this one isn’t yet available outside the live setting.

Both new tracks transposed excellently to the live environment, sounding completely at home alongside songs that have been part of Trower’s repertoire for decades. There was no sense of having to make allowances for new material — these songs simply belonged.

“Distant Places of the Heart”, that wonderful Trower/Jack Bruce collaboration, followed before “Somebody’s Calling”, from 1977’s In City Dreams, and “One Go Round.” The latter was lifted from 2025’s Come and Find Me, another indication that Trower isn’t simply wheeling out the old favourites.

Then came “Day of the Eagle” and “Bridge of Sighs.”

And “Bridge of Sighs” last night was simply superlative.

In every sense of the word.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Robin Trower play on his tours for over 40 years, and I’ve heard that song performed a hell of a lot of times. Yet last night it had that rare quality where, despite knowing every note, you find yourself completely absorbed by it. The sound, the phrasing, the dynamics — everything came together.

It also brought back another thought that has occurred to me countless times over those four decades: Trower’s 1975 Live! album remains arguably the best single-disc live album I have ever heard in my entire life.

That’s quite a statement. But listen to it.

It captures something almost impossible to manufacture — the sheer physicality of Trower’s playing, the interaction between guitar, bass and drums, and that wonderful sense that the whole bloody thing could come apart at any moment but somehow never does.

And for those who haven’t heard enough of it, the album has recently been expanded into a lovely new box set, with the full gig finally included. Which, frankly, is rather wonderful news for anyone who has lived with that original single disc for as long as I have.

Nothing, of course, is ever going to quite match that 1975 Live! album. For me, it remains the benchmark against which I inevitably judge any Trower performance.

But there was absolutely nothing to complain about with what was delivered last night. Quite the opposite.

And the band deserves a proper mention because they were damn good.

Richard Watts on bass and vocals and Chris Taggart on drums provide the current Robin Trower power trio, and they are as near as you’re ever going to get to the spirit of those classic Trower line-ups.

It is worth remembering just how important the drummers have been to this particular sound. Reg Isidore was there at the beginning, part of the original trio and the drummer on those early live performances, before Bill Lordan took over and became such an integral part of the classic Trower sound. Lordan’s contribution is, of course, indelibly associated with Bridge of Sighs and the great mid-70s period, but Isidore was one of the three who helped establish the whole thing in the first place.

Nobody is going to replace Jimmy Dewar — let’s get that out of the way immediately — but Watts understands exactly what is required. His bass is deep, muscular and locked firmly into Taggart’s drumming, while his vocals give the songs the necessary weight without ever attempting to compete with Trower’s guitar.

And Taggart is one hell of a drummer. There is a solidity and power to his playing that gives Trower an enormous platform to work from. When the guitar takes off, the rhythm section doesn’t simply follow it — they drive it.

That’s the secret of a great Trower band. The guitar needs room to breathe, but when Trower decides to hit the accelerator, there has to be something underneath him capable of keeping up.

Watts and Taggart absolutely can.

The three of them together produce a sound that is remarkably close in spirit to those great power-trio years. And when Trower lets rip, with Watts and Taggart hammering away underneath him, you really do get a glimpse of what it must have been like all those years ago.

Except, of course, this is happening now.

The set continued with “No More Worlds to Conquer”, from the 2022 album of the same name, followed by “Daydream.” The fact that songs from 2022 and 2025 can sit so naturally alongside material from the 1970s says a great deal about the quality of Trower’s later work. His newer material is excellent on record and every bit as convincing live.

Then came “Little Bit of Sympathy”, although appropriately enough, we all had a little bit of sympathy for Robin before he could even get started.

There was a false start as either an amp or the pedalboard decided it had had enough for the evening. Trower stopped, the problem was sorted and the band went again.

And when they did, “Little Bit of Sympathy” was rip-roaring.

In fact, there was something rather endearing about the whole episode. When you’re dealing with a guitar rig as gloriously tortured and sonically demanding as Trower’s, occasionally something is going to say fuck this, I’m off. Tonight it was the equipment that briefly surrendered — Robin didn’t.

The encore brought “The Razor’s Edge” and “Birdsong”, both from No More Worlds to Conquer, bringing the evening to a beautifully atmospheric close.

And so we come back to that central point.

There are very few musicians left who can walk onto a stage and instantly transport an audience back half a century without it feeling like a tribute act. Robin Trower doesn’t recreate 1974 or 1975.

He simply picks up the guitar and you’re there.

The extraordinary thing is that this isn’t some exercise in nostalgia. At 81, Trower is still playing with enormous authority, still finding the space between the notes, still making the guitar sing, scream, whisper and occasionally sound like it is being dragged through the gates of hell.

Nothing will ever quite be as good as that 1975 Live! record.

But there was absolutely nothing to complain about with what was delivered last night.

This really was the mid-1970s delivered on acid.

Without the acid.

And after more than 40 years of watching Robin Trower perform, I can honestly say that last night was one of those occasions when you leave a venue thinking you’ve just witnessed something rather special.

Honestly, they could have played for another hour, even two, and there’s not a chance I’d have been bored. When Trower is in that kind of form, you simply want more.

He was that good that I now find myself wishing I’d made the effort to get along to some of the earlier gigs on this tour around the country. After more than 40 years of seeing Robin Trower, you might think I’d have learned by now — when he’s playing like this, one night simply isn’t enough.

But perhaps Robin had somewhere else to be. He probably needed to get home for his cup of cocoa — as did I. We’re not 25 anymore, after all.

And now I have another reason to be impatient.

I can’t wait to get my mitts on a copy of Shine and review it. If “Live Your Time” and “It’s Not Time” are anything to go by, Trower may have another damn good album up his sleeve.

Robin Trower remains the real deal.

And “Bridge of Sighs” last night?

F&ck me. Stunning.