The Walter Trout Band at Warwick Arts Centre

Walter Trout with the guitar on the left

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The Walter Trout Band at the Warwick Arts Centre

Like Joni Mitchell, Walter Trout has had an eventful life and has honestly and authentically distilled it into his music. It seems he mostly lives to be on the road: at 74 years of age, he freely claims to be 'in the December of my life'.

Tuesday night Clare and I saw the Walter Trout Band at the Warwick Arts Centre. The support act on first was Cam Cole - a one-man band, though he did have an assistant in tow. He played a half-hour set, followed by a short intermission. Then, around half-past eight, Walter Trout and his band took the stage and played for a good ninety minutes, which passed remarkably quickly.

Cam Cole struck me as a very talented performer. His assistant, Alfie - rather androgynous in appearance - added to the visual theatre. Together, they delivered a loud, foot-stomping blues set, marked by ferocious vocals and a raw, unfiltered energy. Both looked like travelling folk, and as it turns out, they are - living a nomadic lifestyle in a converted vehicle. The top hat, the colourful, gypsyish clothing - it’s all part of the aesthetic.

That said, the performance, while undeniably high-energy, suffered slightly from repetition and a less-than-ideal sound system which filtered out all subtlety - a flaw that also affected Trout’s set later on.

Walter Trout’s performance was, once again, loud and atmospheric, though not without its limitations. The song choices were heavily weighted toward the straight-down-the-line electric blues - energetic, yes, but lacking melodic variation. Almost every number was a burner, with little respite. I counted only one slower piece, a tribute to John Mayall - though in Walter Trout's hands the song has done duty as an homage to other departed bluesmen too. That would be: 'Say Goodbye to the Blues'.

It’s a shame, really. Trout has more lyrical material in his back catalogue that might have added texture to the set. But he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, as did the band - veterans all, with clear camaraderie and mutual respect. Each had a brief moment in the spotlight - a nice touch.

One can see why Walter Trout remains something of a cult figure. He makes no concessions to fashion or commercial polish. On stage (see the picture above) he appeared in old jeans and a caftan-style shirt - shambolic, yes, but with real presence. The focus was entirely on the music, and we, the fans, clearly appreciated that.

In a certain sense, Walter Trout isn't giving a performance, a show, at all. He's just sharing a fun jam-session with his mates.

Here's Clare in the audience as the theatre fills up

The venue was comfortably full - perhaps 450 people, I’d guess (the capacity is 570). The demographic was striking: not unlike a parish gathering, with perhaps 95% of the audience over sixty. One wonders what’s become of the blues.

It flourished in the ’60s and ’70s - clearly when most of the audience came of age - and has since withered into a niche. The traditional electric blues, rooted in the Delta and the Mississippi, seems largely bypassed by the younger crowd. But perhaps, as with so much else, it’s simply waiting for its time to come again.