Steve's Place
Birkenhead Pacific Road Arts Theatre,
Wirral, UK.
November 12th 2005
three reviews and pictures

picture by TFIRE

Thanks to Pete Allen for this review

 Pacific Road?  Well, firstly, I want to take some credit for this.  I have struck up an email link with Derek Sutton in the past few years having found out he was born and bred not too far from here, so I’ve bombarded him with emails for about 5 years asking him to get Robin to play the Wirral International Guitar festival which is held annually.  Reading Trower-Power back around May time I noticed they were soliciting dates for an Autumn tour so, again, I sent Derek a link for Pacific Road.  He forwarded this to Robin’s European Management and next thing …. Hey presto !  Robin’s booked to play here.
Pacific Road is a fully modernised old docks warehouse building, a couple of hundred metres from the River Mersey opposite Liverpool.  It’s a great venue, one of the best venues in the UK for this type of gig.  Abd it’s my local venue … my home gig if you   like.  So, being a Trowerhead for some (cough!) 30 years plus, this was like a dream come true.
I’d gone there with a number of different groups of friends, but I had arranged to meet Alan Howard and his mates, who again had made a mega-journey to see Robin.  From his photos he was easy to find and we hit it off straight away.  So after a beer with some other friends I spent the entire gig with Alan.  They’re great, fantastic people and this made the evening even better.
Alan’s seen Robin loads of times on his UK sojourns this year, but what was to come turned out to be the best gig he or I have witnessed on the RT trail this year.  The track listing was as posted for other gigs, except just the 2 encores of Lady Love and Daydream.  But Robin and the band were on fire, knowingly smiling at each other that this gig was proving to be something special.  Pacific Road has great acoustics, and with Robin’s guitar to the fore this really was a hot gig.  It was great to hear
Twice Removed…,  Hannah, Roads To Freedom and Fine Day … all timeless songs from his early catalogue, but again for me Bridge Of Sighs brought the house down.  Another 10 minutes plus, but possibly the best version I’ve ever heard as the guitar was right in your face.  Stunning !!
I told Robin after that I had been instrumental in getting him here, and asked him to come back one day.  He said he enjoyed the gig and would love to return.
So, I said goodbye to local mates, sought out Alan and we said our goodbyes … but we added that we would meet … Another Time, Another Place.

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Thanks to Dave Knight for this review and pictures

The Pacific Road Arts Centre is set in an industrial area away from the town centre of Birkenhead. It is an old warehouse, complete with steel roof support and brick floor. The place has been extremely well renovated and a perfect setting for Robins music.
I arrived early with my daughter to try and witness the sound check. Unfortunately the best I could manage was to stand outside (in the rain) and listen through a roller shutter door that was at the side of the arena. Following the usual round of drum checks and vocal checks, the first noticeable sound came from Dave Bronze playing the opening bass line to ‘Your so vain’ and robin playing a few tasty clean runs. Then, a few moments later the whole band launched into ‘Fine Day’. I must say that from the first notes it was obvious that this was going to be something special, the sound and mix was (even through my door) extremely well balanced and tight. When Robins Wah-Wah kicked in during this song it really complimented the funky rhythm. Always one of my favourites this song seems to have been given a new lease of life. The next song was ‘Roads to freedom’. Again, great to hear this song that pretty much followed the original format with the exception of a blistering solo.
We left the theatre to get a bite to eat and returned to find a packed audience giving a thoroughly deserved warm reception to support act John Amor.
Just after 9pm the lights dimmed and it was time to see Robin for an unbelievable third time in one year. I managed to catch the Manchester and Fleetwood shows, both amazing performances.
Before the show I was speaking to someone and describing the professionalism of the sound and was a bit dismayed when I heard the opening few minutes of ‘Twice Removed from Yesterday’. Robin’s guitar was just audible in the mix, his opening vocal line could not be heard at all and Davey’s vocals were just to overpowering.
 Personally, I think that the acoustics in the room proved a little troublesome initially and, although the opening songs were well crafted, the band only really got into top gear on ‘Day of the Eagle/Bridge of Sighs’. Words are meaningless when trying to describe Robin, needless to say he was in fine form. Robin and the rest of the band seemed very relaxed from this point and looked to be enjoying the occasion. The audience throughout were very vocal in appreciation and maybe this was the catalyst for the final encore to be ‘Daydream’ not as scheduled on the bands set list.
Following the gig I managed to meet most of the band and Pete Thompson spoke of problems with the rooms acoustics and trying to hear himself over Robins amplifiers. On another note he spoke of how frustrating the Glasgow gig had turned out. Stating that the reason the gig was cancelled was due to sound levels, and not, as apparently the venue had stated, that the band themselves had pulled out for other reasons.
On arrival home, I eagerly pulled out the DVD, which I had purchased at the gig. Suddenly my wife jumped up and snatched it off me to hide as a Christmas present. At least I suppose I have something to look forward to, until next year that is………………………..

                      And from Steve's Place's resident "' Man on the road'   Alan Howard

I stagger to think where on earth the band managed to find that performance from tonight!
They drove seven hours from Aberdeen. Went straight to the sound check and returned two hours later to give one of their most memorable shows ever in front of an exuberant, 600-strong audience. It was absolutely priceless. I thought the venue, sound, lights were perfect. Everything was absolutely brilliant from where we were standing.
The band may have been tired but any fatigue that they may have been feeling quickly melted away as the excitement and appreciation of the audience lifted their spirits. It was magic. Robin’s response to the warm and rapturous applause was rapid and resolute. He immersed himself and his guitar in even deeper waters ofexpression and emotion, ‘Bridge of Sighs’ being a particular case in point.
Again, the choice of material caught the crowd completely by surprise. Robin really had everyone on his side by the end of the second number. ‘Hannah’ with its heartbreaker chords and up tempo middle section simply oozed confidence and passion by the bucket load. It was awesome stuff.
By the time we got to ‘Sympathy’ everyone was jumping up and down, clapping their hands or calling out their approval and appreciation. I’m sure the crowd would have been quite happy for the band to continue playing all night. As it was, there was no let up from Robin, Davey, Pete and Dave until they’d completed both encore tunes ‘Lady Love’ and ‘Daydream’, the latter played tonight with full-on feedback, vibrato and intensity.

Thank you, Birkenhead for the biggest and best night of 2005 so far. I have no doubt we will be talking about this particular show for a long long time to come!