Review: Ian McNabb at The Robin, Bilston

New Brighton Rock is the latest in a late career creative burst of fresh music from the 62-year-old.

Officer of the Watch was well received by fans at The Robin in Bilston.

He took to the stage in cap and after an initial "hey" was straight into an entrancing set of songs from throughout his long career starting with Great Dreams of Heaven.

He was happy to chat and joke between songs.

Makin' Silver Sing, delivered on keyboards was one of the highlights, even with a break to change harmonica.

The set, mostly with him delivering some excellent guitar work, was sprinkled with songs from his original band, The Icicle Works including Out of Season, Evangeline – with fans encouraged to sing along – All The Daughters and When It All Comes Down.

The bushy bearded singer's voice seems to get better with the years with Fire Inside My Soul from 1994's Head Like a Rock one of the outstanding performances on the night.

Enjoying the enthusiastic response from the "Bidley" audience – he accidentally confused whether he was playing in Bilston or Dudley – he issued an impassioned appeal to people to continue supporting independent grassroots venues like The Robin which are still recovering from the blow to income delivered by the pandemic.

He finished the show with a brilliant delivery of another Icicle Works' favourite in Hollow Horse, but returned for a single encore with the song everyone had come to hear – Love is a Wonderful Colour – which the band released exactly 40 years ago.

Support for Ian McNabb at The Robin once again came from Wolverhampton-based Bluebyrd – the folk rock duo of singer and guitarist Chris Rowley and keyboard player Gareth Pask. Gary's Gang about Chris's youth in the city was a highlight.