Review: Steve Lukather, Robin 2, Bilston
It's been just over a couple of years since Toto guitar legend Steve Lukather played the Robin 2 but already the venue seems like a second home for him.
With Toto's 35th anniversary tour pointedly ignoring the UK, this and the previous night's London gig were the only two chances fans had to catch the guitarist in action this year, bar saving for a cross-Channel ferry ticket.
But Lukather did not disappoint, leading his four-piece outfit through an exhilarating two-hour odyssey in front of a packed venue.
Lukather , a veteran of thousands of sessions including Michael Jackson's Thriller album, plays like most other guitarists can't even imagine. There are rock chords with jazz infusions and jazz chords with rock leanings, combining into delicious melodies and insistent, driving rhythms.
The setlist was drawn almost entirely from his 25-year solo career out of Toto, kicking off with the one-two of Judgement Day and the acerbic Creep Hotel and peaking with the majestic Right The Wrong.
A cover version of Jimi Hendrix's Freedom was dedicated to legendary music producer Phil Ramone, the news of whose death had just come through earlier, and when he did turn to a Toto song, it wasn't any of the big hits, but the 1992 album track Never Enough.
Out to promote his eighth solo album, Transition, Lukather proved an amiable host, joking that "I don't drink anymore but I encourage misbehaviour in others".
The guitarist turned to an instrumental version of Charlie Chaplin's Smile for his final encore, dedicated to his late mother. "She wanted a doctor but she didn't get so lucky," he dead-panned.
By Ian Harvey
