Robin Trower

April 20, 2016 | 8pm

Pricing: $55 Front Section, $50 Front Orchestra, $40 Balcony (+ Ticketing Fees)

The Atherton Hotel (two blocks from the theater) is offering a special promotional rate on rooms to people who will be coming to the Robin Trower Show. To get this special rate you must call the hotel at (815) 231-2100 and mention this show.

We welcome back Robin Trower to The State Theatre this spring!

Legendary solo artist and Procol Harum guitarist, Robin Trower, helped define an era of guitar-riff rock with the first four notes of 1974’s “Bridge of Sighs.” Trower has garnered the same esteem and prestige as the great players of the time: Page, Townsend, May, Beck and the lot. He’s been a Fender Stratocaster endorsee ever since Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre let him try one before a gig in the early Seventies, and now has his own signature model – an honor accorded to few.

Something’s About To Change released on February 10, 2015 confirms a world-class musician at the top of his game. With his own V12 record label allowing Trower to bypass the spirit-sapping protocol of the conventional record industry, it comes to no surprise this new album sounds so vital. While palpably influenced by Trower’s deep love of post-war U.S. blues, its personal themes and visceral music means that it will resonate with every generation. “As a songwriter and a performer, you use everything at your disposal to put into songs,” reflects Trower.

Tracking alongside long-standing producer Livingstone Brown at Studio 91 in Newbury, this was not a dry exercise in box-ticking, but a bid to capture the rare chemistry between Trower and his band. On drums, Chris Taggart’s touch can be thunderous or feather-light. On organ,Luke Smith slips between his roles as support player and sparring partner on standout cuts likeWhat You Never Want To Do. Leading the line, of course, is Trower himself, playing bass for the first time, alongside his unmistakable soul-in-fingers guitar parts. “There is some sort of feeling of emotional release,” he says, ”when you play a note that rings out right.”

The first decade of the current century has seen Robin wowing fans old and new on both sides of the Atlantic. The stadiums he filled in the Seventies may be a fond memory, but the upside is that audiences in clubs and theatres can witness the magic at closer quarters.

Make no bones about it, Robin Trower is an axeman’s axeman. He’s been a Fender Stratocaster endorsee ever since Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre let him try one before a gig in the early Seventies, and now has his own signature model – an honour accorded to few. Robin Trower live is an experience not to be missed. Whether you play guitar, or just enjoy a brilliant soulful player, come out and see the show. You will walk away smiling.

Keep the party going! Show your ticket stub at Zeno’s Pub after any The State Theatre event and get in for FREE!