Venue:
The Sound Lounge, Sutton, London
Date: 20/06/2025
Gigs by Robbie McIntosh and his band are as rare as hen’s teeth so, when this one popped up at the wonderful Sound Lounge in Sutton, London; I had to go. Apart from anything, Robbie is a Sutton boy so the crowd is peppered with friends.
Five days earlier I was sitting in the Royal Albert Hall waiting for Bonnie Raitt to come on when Robbie and Giles Martin sat in the row in front of me. During the standing ovation for the encore I was able to tell Robbie that I would be at his gig on Friday. He was genuinely chuffed and shook my hand before disappearing backstage, (having had a “I’m honoured to have guitarist Robbie McIntosh in the house tonight,” from Bonnie earlier.)
First off I have to name check his stellar band; some of the best British musicians still doing the miles.
On bass and bv’s, the effortless Steve Wilson; on keyboards and bv’s, the ‘wearer of hats,’ Steven Darrell Smith; on percussion, the evergreen Jody Linscott; on vocals and acoustic guitar; the delightful Hannah Robinson; on harmonicas and jews harp, the unbelievable Peter Hope Evans and, finally, the engine house that is Paul Beavis on drums.
The fact that many of them have been with Robbie for over 25 years tells you all you need to know.
The stage patter is relaxed and funny: “We don’t play very often so I forget how things go.”
“My Dad didn’t like that one, (Hang Me On the Line.) He came to a gig once… before he was dead… and I said to him, ‘How was the gig?’ He said, ‘It was good apart from that Johnny One Note song.’ [long pause]
“I never spoke to him again.”
The musicianship is, however, off the scale. Paul Beavis is an absolute monster and serves the songs perfectly. He’s constantly looking around the stage, encouraging others, grinning after someone’s solo and pushing the band with his bass drum. A master technician.
The setlist features a great spread of songs from Robbie’s solo and band albums; two of Hannah Robinson’s excellent songs; (the band really stretched out on Holding Up the Sky and there was plenty of satisfied smiles between them as it ended,) as well as a few choice covers. Gravity and Joe and Me, two of my favourites of his catalogue, open the set before a fantastic cover of John Martyn’s beautiful One Day Without You which is followed by Scarecrow which features fantastic solos by PHE and Robbie himself. The first set ends with a great version of Robbie’s signature song from his years in The Pretenders, Don’t Get Me Wrong. Hannah Robinson handles Christie’s vocals admirably and it brings the house down.
During the break Robbie joins a few people in the audience for a natter before the band rattles through the second half like the bar’s about to close.
Robbie swaps between three beautiful guitars and his playing is top notch. I’m happy to put him up as the most underrated British player of the past 40+ years and any album that has his name in the credits will be worth a purchase unheard.
They play for two and a half hours and close with blistering versions of Freddie King’s See See Baby and Chuck Berry’s Oh Carol. The crowd won’t let them go so they chuck in the title track from his band’s 1999 debut, Emotional Bends.
The audience:
A top night at a lovely venue with wonderful staff; and great sound; for £15? You’re ‘avin a giraffe.
It made me think..
I cannot urge you enough; if you see a Robbie McIntosh gig advertised within a couple of hours of you; just go.
Top review. Top man.
I was thinking of you during the gig, @Twang. It was right up your street.
I would have loved it I’m sure. I think he’s a superb player. I’ve got a Norah Jones DVD somewhere and she talks at some length about how great it is playing with Robbie.
Certainly up my street, niall. 😘 I’m going to try and catch this tour somewhere.
You guys in the UK. Spoiled.
I’m well jell. I had “Joe & Me” played at my wedding and “Emotional Bends” is one of the few albums I return to every month. I saw Aynsley Lister’s band a few times with Paul Beavis when they were still a trio – he was a real powerhouse. £15? What a result!
I’ve spent a good few years under the assumption that Robbie McIntosh was the old guitarist from the Average White Band so imagine my surprise when I just googled him, only to discover that he was someone else entirely and that not only was his namesake the drummer of the AWB and not the guitarist, but that RM mk1 had in fact been dead since 1974.
Me too, until about 5 years ago, thinking AWB to Pretenders quite cool.
And then McCartney’s late 80s/early 90s live band which did contain another AWB ex member in Hamish Stuart.
I saw Robbie McIntosh then and also playing with John Mayer at the 2007 Bridge benefit concert in California
If you’re in reach of Chelmsford Robbie, who plays there quite often, is playing with Hamish Stuart in November.
https://dice.fm/event/v36kml-robbie-mcintosh-hamish-stuart-29th-nov-hot-box-chelmsford-tickets?lng=en
Got to see Robbie playing covers in a pub with the great Peter Bruntnell a few weeks ago. RM was effortless in his craft, going from Albert Lee twang to pedal steel-alike with slide, string benders and a volume pedal. Made me want to burn all my guitars, but I had a smile on my face the whole time.
That sounds fab.