Walter Trout @ la Cigale, Paris - May 26th, 2019

Last night wasn't just any night for Blues veteran Walter Trout (Canned Heat, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers)... Last night he celebrated five years of the liver transplant that saved his life. His emotion when he told the story was palpable and informed his whole set. Whether he played a slow blues or a rockier number his performance was in his image: captivating, grateful, generous and larger than life.

He played a few cuts from his new album Survivor Blues as well as its predecessor Battle Scars which chronicled his illness and recovery. His playing was razor-sharp, precise but never sterile. His covers were played with reverence to the source material but he still managed to imprint his own style onto everything he played.

It's astonishing to see a man of nearly seventy, who has suffered such a traumatic health scare, giving an audience so much. He doesn't just play the Blues with his fingers and his voice: he plays them with whole body. The Blues are at the core of every move he makes and they inform everything about his performance. And how could it be otherwise? The Blues have saved his life. The Blues are his life.