Gig Review: Walter Trout – Gloucester Guild Hall
14th October 2026
The first time Walter can recall playing in Gloucester, but here he was about to play to a full auditorium, with a few line-up changes from the usual. On keys from the Netherlands was Roland Bakker, drums featured our own Kev Hickman, bass was in the hands of John Avila, and, touring for the first time, his son Jon Trout was on guitar.
Supporting Walter was the new and rapidly rising Leoni Jane Kennedy, a Freddie Mercury Scholarship winner with notable industry supporters. On this showing, Leoni demonstrated great stage presence, knew how to connect with her audience and performed a brilliant selection of her own songs acoustically. I suspect a full electric band is pretty damned impressive.
“Let’s make some noise!” and the band strikes up, with a long intro into ‘I Can Tell’. Roland gets busy on the Hammond, Avila is bouncing around with his bass, and Kev is being Kev, hair flying as he energetically hammers those drums, whilst Walter busies his fingers on his Strat. Walter loves to play with the fans, swinging from a croon to a scream in ‘Walkin’ in the Rain’, but he also loves to flex his fingers and stretch out those blues. Chatting about the hedonistic sixties brings full-on rock with ‘Wanna Dance’, with a little bit of prog thrown in as Trout goes deep.
A change of tack fills the air with a gorgeous slow blues, a tribute to John Mayall, the godfather of British blues. Walter was helped through difficult times by Mayall, so it’s time to ‘Say Goodbye to the Blues’. Debunking the “orange blobs” take on AI, things turn a little Wilde in the ‘Artificial’ world we inhabit, with Will’s powerful harmonica swapping leads with Walter. The duel continues, asking, “What makes the blues so hard?” Will and Walter swap riffs. Is it a riff on harp? Bending reeds, bending strings, blending blues!
It was time to introduce his son Jon, proudly announcing that he had achieved a Master’s degree. But it was time for him to hit the road with his dad. Taller but unmistakably a Trout, he demonstrated his guitar credentials, with plenty of expression, maybe a tad sweeter, but definitely ‘All in This Together’.
A lengthy band intro gave everyone space to air their respective instruments as the clock ticked down. There was just enough time left to go out with a rousing ‘Best You Got’, closing a brilliant evening with the legendary Walter Trout.
By: Graham Munn