Robert Cray 12/7/10

This was a late decision and partly because I wanted to see Andy Fairweather-Low who was the support act.

Andy F-L had a four piece band with him on acoustic guitar, bass and drums and a sax/clarinet player. Early on he played a few delta country blues tracks then a few songs that had been covered by other artists and I particularly liked 'Hymn for My Soul'

Nick Pentelow played a dynamic and upbeat sax and clarinet and A F-L is a fine guitarist. Near the end he played the obligatory 'Wide-eyed and Legless' and the Paradise song. I always seem to enjoy gigs with Andy F-L, perhaps because I usually see him with Clapton but this was an excellent support act.

Robert Cray was also in a four-piece band with bass, drums and a fine keyboards player, Jim Pugh.

I think Robert Cray is a great blues guitarist but I don't naturally empathise with the fusion elements he brings to the blues with his soulful singing and funky beats. This was really shown up when he played the classic blues 'Sittin' on top of the world'. This was the highpoint for me, the guitar was superb and the singing bluesy and full on. Other tracks were good and I enjoyed the performance. I would however prefer a whole session of pure blues from Robert Cray.

He didn't just roll out his all-time most popular songs and I liked that. He did play 'Right Next Door' and 'Bad Influence'(covered by Clapton) but the songs that stuck out for me included 'The One in the Middle' with a superb Jim Pugh solo and right near the end of the encore 'Back Door Slam' where Robert really got the guitar into gear.

All in all an enjoyable gig but it is soon fading apart from 'Sitting on Top of the World'