The Bodega is absolutely packed tonight, and the bright light from the stage is already filtering through the rising haze from the sweltering crowd. There are only two acts tonight, the rapidly ascending star that is Troy Redfern and the award-winning When Rivers Meet, and the audience are more than ready for both.
Taking to the stage at the unreasonably early time of 7:15, Troy Redfern has decided to go it alone for this tour, unleashing his unique and gritty brand of slide driven blues without the safety net of a backing band. Where, for some, solo would mean stripped down and acoustic, for Troy it is an opportunity to draw out some of the more psychedelic elements of his music, and even solo he remains defiantly electric. Making deft use of reverb, delay and (by the sound of it) a looper pedal, he plays with more energy than most full bands can muster, and the vocal crowd are first subdued and then overawed by his muscular playing. While the opening numbers of Tory’s short set are met with interest, it’s an epic Waiting For Your Love that really seems to connect, the heavy, heavy, delay-soaked blues hitting the crowd in waves. Backlit with blazing white light, and dressed like a member of Fields of the Nephilim, Troy both looks and sounds like one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The next track, Sanctify, has a dirty little groove that fully ignites a crowd that, by this point, are packed like sardines into the small space. With a voice that sounds like a thousand-cigarette-a-day habit washed down with the meanest bourbon, Troy may miss the stomach-churning presence of the kick drum, but his gritty, overdriven tone more than makes up for it. For the finale, Troy bravely touches on Hendrix, with a storming, feedback-strewn cover of Voodoo Chile. With the primary riff looping over and over, Troy delivers the sort of guitar pyrotechnics for which Hendrix was famed and he does it in so unaffected and enthralling a manner that he makes a well-worn track his own in the process.
What an opening act! Troy owns the stage and the only disappointment is that his set was far too short.
For a large portion of the audience, however, When Rivers Meet cannot arrive on stage soon enough. The usual shuffle occurs as the queue at the bar cycles, allowing glasses to be charged and then, as the PA volume slowly lowers, a cheer goes up to greet the band. A very different prospect to Troy Redfern’s gritty blues, When Rivers Meet are a slick proposition, with a lot of money clearly put into their presentation. They clearly aspire to larger stages, and the opening track’s Status Quo stomp underlines the desire to play music for the masses. The audience clap along gamely, but it takes a few minutes for the sound to settle, with the vocals far too high and the guitars far too low in the mix. Nevertheless, by the time Did I Break The Law has come to an end (eliciting a huge cheer from the assembled throng in the process), the sound has settled, and the band plough straight into Walking On The Wire, with its sweet slide, split vocals and tough groove. It’s an impactful opening combo and it clearly fires up the crowd, who only seem to get louder as each track hurtles by.
As Grace notes, When Rivers Meet have been waiting for a long time for this tour, writing and recording an album in the process, and the band have no shortage of heavy hitters to keep their audience hooked. That said, it’s important to allow a little downtime, and the acoustic-led Don’t Tell Me Goodbye provides a moment of calm for the effervescent Grace. Whether the audience need calming quite so soon, is another matter, but with eighteen songs on the set list, the band (also featuring Roger Inniss on bass and James Fox on drums) clearly recognise the importance of pacing themselves. And pace themselves they do. Aaron clearly delights in swapping instruments, slipping between electric, acoustic and even cigar box guitar, while Grace brings both mandolin and violin to the table, keeping things varied.
With the venue sold out, and a solid rapport between band and audience (Grace’s various monologues do much to recall the online setting which was, for so long, the primary method of engagement the band had with their fans), it’s clear that When Rivers Meet are on a solid trajectory toward bigger things and, with their solid grasp of stage craft and strong hooks, it is hard to believe they will stay in venues this size for much longer. Certainly it’s difficult to imagine the packed audience leaving disappointed – and many carried the goodtime vibe out on to Nottingham’s streets, singing snatches of the band’s songs as they went.
