Although Steve Winwood is mainly known for his keyboards and his vocals, I rate him as one of my favourite guitarists, and so I noted that I had seen four gigs in May and June featuring four of my favourite guitarists and with an average age of about 65! Of the four gigs this was perhaps the least surprising being somewhat similar to Steve Winwood gigs I have seen in recent years. It did have some great highlights, mainly when Steve was on guitar which was basically three songs plus one on mandolin. There was a great version of 'Can't Find My Way Home' and of course 'Dear Mr Fantasy' featured in the encore as usual. I also loved 'Fly' early on in the set. It would be churlish to criticise as the band were good - better for the fact that the lead guitarist Jose Netto seems more integrated into the group sound these days - but perhaps there was a spark missing. These guys have been touring this show for a while, a mixture of Spencer Davis, Traffic, Blind Faith tracks with a few more recent songs thrown in. I wanted to hear some more of the extensive Winwood solo catalogue although we did have 'Back in the High Life Again' and the obligatory 'Higher love' which I guess is the most well known of his later work.
A nice gig as you might assume with Steve's incomparable vocals and general musicianship. The band were also tight. I am also always impressed by the way Winwood plays the bass line with his left foot while playing on two keyboards and singing at the same time. Nonetheless I shall be expecting a different set next time.
The support was a singer songwriter called Joe Summers. He was interesting and pleasant enough.
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