Walter Trout @ Café de la Danse, Paris - June 5th, 2023

Walter Trout has had a long and distinguished career full of trials and tribulations, successes, tragedies, addictions, illness and resurrection. Now in his seventies, the man has nothing to prove and he's just out to play his music and let the good times roll.

It's been four years since Trout's last Paris show with Jonny Lang and Kris Barras, and he's released two albums since, including Ride, his thirtieth record which came out last year. Primarily, Walter Trout plays the Blues. But these Blues are not for the faint of heart. These Blues rock, and they rock hard, in part thanks to the killer band he has assembled to back him: Richard T. Bear on keyboards, Jakob Rønlov on drums, Johnny Griparic on bass and Andrew Elt on occasional rhythm guitar and vocals.

Tout's brute take on the electric Blues isn't re-inventing the wheel. In fact, it's a pretty traditional iteration of the form, but that's what the audience is here to enjoy: an authentic lifeline to one of America's greatest art forms. As a guitarist, Trout is shit-hot. He's also an engaging frontman and a captivating singer who wears his emotions on his sleeve and his battle scars on his face. A liver transplant gave Walter Trout a new lease on life nearly a decade ago, and when he sings his original material like I'm Worried, or covers classic like Bullfrog Blues where he sings "You have to sit there laughing', just to keep from crying'"; these Blues now ring even more true.