There’s a moment, when Robert Jon & The Wreck are playing “Cold Night”, where if you close your eyes and let the music take over, you might just be listening to the finest exponents of rock ‘n’ roll there are right now.
And, ok, yeah, I get it. That sounds like a big call to make, but it’s a statement I’m prepared to stand by—and it’s exactly why this review starts at the end of the main set. Because when Messrs Burrison, James, Murrel, Abernathie and Espantman lock into that jam, quite frankly, they’re unstoppable.
They are the second coming of the Allman Brothers one minute, then it’s heads down and go-for-the-state-line riffing the next.
And they’ve always been this good.
They’d just kind of appeared on stage at 8 p.m.—no intro tape, no gimmicks. That suits them. They’re not the type of band, if we may paraphrase Shooter Jennings, to take advice from the record label’s image group. They’re very much a throwback in that they don’t appear to have an image at all.
Instead, they just have stacks and stacks of great songs.
So they turn up, plug in, and rock out like the troubadours of yore.
That means “Hold On” is glorious riffing, “Trouble” is built around its organ work, and “Blame It On The Whiskey” lives and dies by its solo—and let’s be clear, Henry James is as good as it gets at them.
RJATW are two other things as well: first, they’re the hardest-working band out there, and second, they’re incredibly diverse.
New song “Ashes In The Snow” slows things down wonderfully, and yet they’re perfectly happy afterwards to turn “Red Moon Rising” into a funky jam.
Part of this appeal is the fact that they’re clearly just five guys who love music and are happy to make their own timeless version of it, as “Better Of Me” underlines.
They release a song most weeks, it seems, and one of their newer ones, “Sittin’ Pretty”, is made for rousing the rabble anytime, anyplace—but it contrasts nicely with the almost arena rock of “Don’t Let Me Go”.
Like Bruce Springsteen, say, no two RJATW shows are the same. Old tune “Glory Bound” is chucked in here before the wonderful “Oh, Miss Carolina” is turned into a singalong.
They give off the appearance of being five guys who love what they do, so “Ballad Of A Broken Hearted Man” might seem a little incongruous, but it’s no less special.
The encore comes after “…..Night”, and “Tired Of Drinking Alone” speaks to the camaraderie that so permeates their first show in Birmingham, before they go back almost a decade for “Hey Hey Mama”—a song I don’t think I’ve seen them do before.
And that almost sums them up. When you watch Robert Jon & The Wreck, you’re not waiting for that one killer song—you’re watching an hour and 45 minutes’ worth, one after the other.
Plus, at the risk of repeating myself, you’re watching arguably the best rock ‘n’ roll band around right now.
Robert Jon & The Wreck – May 2025 UK Tour
Tickets:
https://robertjonandthewreck.com/tour
May 7: Gloucester Guildhall
May 8: Chester Live Rooms
May 9: Northampton Roadmender
May 10: Portsmouth Guildhall (with special guests Brave Rival)
All photos: Martin Tierney
