Walter Trout and Danny Bryant’s Redeyeband
Theatre Heerlen The Netherlands 16 November 2010

Common Ground is the title of the latest album by blues guitar picker Walter Trout; it is his 20 th album and the reviews were overwhelming. Now Walter is here in my hometown to play a gig together with the English up coming blues talent Danny Bryant.

The last album of Danny Bryant’s Redeyeband was called Just As I Am and it was certainly his best effort so far and tonight Danny proved that he is one of the most talented blues rock guitar players of this time. This was really no bullshit blues rock at its best with Danny singing and soloing like a young blues god. He definitely has his own style of guitar playing, but then again his sound and solos truly remind me of good old Rory Gallagher. This is certainly someone who is going to be big in the blues rock world, watch out for this guy!

So after 30 minutes of Bryant’s Redeyeband Walter finally took the stage and he kicked off with a steaming and smashing guitar solo. This guy, who played with Canned Heat, John Mayall and John Lee Hooker needs no further introduction and the party was on right from the beginning. The audience was treated to a mix of blues, rock and blues rock and old Trout classics like False Alarm and Life In The Jungle were really well received by the extremely enthusiastic audience. His new album Common Ground is one of my favourite Trout albums and so I really enjoyed songs like Her Other Man and the title track with an absolute stunning guitar solo, which gave me goose bumps all over! No Good Woman and Going Down were other highlights of this evening and Walter really enjoyed himself during those “oldies”. In a couple of songs Walter was assisted by Andrew Elt (ex- Sleez Beez) on guitar and vocals and I have to say that this was totally superfluous for me. It added nothing extra to the songs. On the other hand something that really added value to the songs was the fact that Danny Bryant was asked to join the band for a blues jam. And this was really out of this world, two fantastic guitar players duelling with each other and playing the most difficult solos, hooks and melodies in a rather effortless way.

Of course Walter also did his “famous”, hilarious talking guitar act and he came back for two encores. A fabulous show and Walter really is not ready for retirement yet, keep on playing the blues!

Martien Koolen for www.rockunited.com
11 December 2010