Review – Robin Trower & Sari Schorr – Joyful Sky Concert

Venue – Harlington Arts Center, Surrey (November 4th 2023)

Reviewer: Stephen Brophy

Of course as with any show in any format I would prefer to be at the event live and in the moment, but I’m not averse to watching either a live stream of a set, especially from Festivals that you maybe cannot attend in person. The same stands for events like this where Robin Trower is introducing his excellent new album ‘Joyful Sky‘, featuring Sari Schorr on vocals, by making available a live stream of a selection of the songs from the new album plus some of Robin’s greatest hits from over his long and highly successful career.

The package that has been put together here also includes and Introduction, some very relaxed Interviews with both Robin and Sari, a free live Download of Robin’s ‘No More Worlds To Conquer’, the title track of last years album release. This, as with the other Robin songs in the live set contains Richard Watts on bass/vocals, he really is an excellent vocalist. And all of the content is available to anyone that purchases a Ticket to watch multiple times.

So we move onto the Live Concert section of the content, and it’s been filmed, in very high quality video, from the stage at Harlington Arts Center in Surrey back in September, the video is well shot offering multiple viewing angles and from front of stage the cameramen offer views that certainly give the impression you are standing there just in front of the stage monitors, which brings you closer to everything that’s happening on the stage.

There really is no doubt that Robin Trower is a legendary Blues Rock artist, a wonderful guitarist that has been able to maintain a career through 6 decades and continues to look for different inspirations and subject matter. With the release of ‘Joyful Sky‘, Trower has moved down a slightly different track again, not something a lot of people, never mind musicians tend to do when they have moved into their late 70’s, but with the addition of the wonderful Sari Schorr on vocals the album was always going to garner some additional interest and it’s all well deserved.

The Concert element kicked off bang on time and went straight into the music, there is the additional content with interviews etc for conversation. Thankfully the tracks played are not in album order so that along with the band performing in a venue, ok without a crowd, creates a better live set. The set is just over 45 minutes in total, showcasing most of the albums songs and it’s wonderful to see Robin still clearly loving what he does, and the touch and feel are still there, it’s a joy to watch and hear.

Sari of course brings her own style, presence and that wonderful and distinctive soulful and powerful husky voice to proceedings, with Robin’s bass player Richard Watts taking over on vocal duties for the tracks from his back catalogue, with the exception of the closing track ‘Rise Up Like The Sun’ which again features Sari. Richard also has a brilliant, if different voice, but the delivery is perfect right the way through. As I mentioned there is no messing around here and in the 45 odd minutes of music the guys manage to pack in all but two songs off the album alongside and the classic ‘Day Of The Eagle’ and the stupendous ‘Bridge Of Sighs’ and a bonus of ‘Rise Up Like the Sun’ to finish the set out. So 12 Tracks in total and the mix in the set worked really well. Nothing seemed out of place, the playing and singing from all involved was top notch and even with the changes of vocalist throughout the set the vibe, passion and feeling remained at the same level from start to finish.

Sari is quite clearly in her element working with these songs and loving both singing them and the process, her appreciation of Robin is also quite obvious and during the set you can see glances in his direction while he’s playing solos and it’s another part of this project that is enchanting. Most of the time Sari’s voice has an understated power, but she can really hit it hard when necessary, and it all blends perfectly with the blues guitar singing along and the band who never put a foot wrong, the line-up being completed by Chris Taggart on drums, he forms a formidable rhythm section with Watt’s, but what makes everything tick on the album and in this live set is that superb guitar playing and sound that Trower gets, his tone is always superb, on occasion you see the pedals in front of him and it’s a basic set up, why add a million things into the mix when you can get such a clear, perfect sound. For me this is a brilliant collaboration, once again showing Trower’s unwavering ability to mix and play different styles and continue to create very relevant and most importantly enjoyable music to listen to. Whether we get to opportunity for a Tour of this album time will tell, but if not then this showpiece is definitely worth taking your time to check out. The new album tracks have been beautifully arranged with the title track ‘Joyful Sky’ with both power and subtlety in equal measure and such a strong emotional ending, ‘I’ll Be Moving On’ and ‘Change It’ in particular standing out in the live set.

Robin has pledged to get as much music out there as he can while he can, and it is certainly not a case of running into a studio and just recording anything, as last years ‘No More Worlds To Conquer‘ and this new album prove, the creative force is still very strong, his ability to play is amazing to me, and I could watch or listen to him all night long. Personally I really hope I get to see some of these album tracks live, it would be a privilege. Not content with making this album Robin has also managed to help create 3 new songs for Sari’s solo album, you can’t do this amount of work unless you love what you do, and long may it continue. As concert’s go this one may well have been shorter than the average, but I enjoyed every minute of it and naturally was left wanting more, the way any concert should be.

Setlist:

The Circle Is Complete  (Joyful Sky)

Peace Of Mind  (Joyful Sky)

I’ll Be Moving On  (Joyful Sky)

No More Worlds To Conquer  (No More Worlds To Conquer)

Change It  ( Joyful Sky)

Need For You  (Joyful Sky)

Burn  (Joyful Sky)

Day Of The Eagle  (Bridge Of Sighs)

Bridge Of Sighs  (Bridge Of Sighs)

The Distance  (Joyful Sky)

Joyful Sky  (Joyful Sky)

Rise Up Like The Sun  ft Sari Schorr  (20^th Century Blues)