Review: Former Black Crowes singer’s solo, classic-rock project

After a half-hour sandwiched between strangers in the crowded
Viper Room, Rich Robinson and his band finally took the stage. With
the Black Crowes on hiatus, Robinson has begun a solo project
““ a guitar-driven quartet with a keyboardist that plays
familiar-sounding classic rock.

Robinson has been doing a tour of small venues in big cities.
Jan. 22 was his first performance in Los Angeles, at the
aforementioned Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. He has yet to
release an album in his solo career. But a live album recorded in
New York will be available in the near future.

After a short introduction and an intense audience reaction,
Robinson and his band ripped into their set. Robinson’s
throaty voice is strikingly similar to that of his brother Chris
Robinson, who was the lead singer of the Black Crowes. Hardly
surprising, the music behind the vocals sounded like the Black
Crowes, as well. Essentially, Rich Robinson’s solo project
sounds just like his former band, minus a little “pop”
and plus a little “jam.” Despite being talented
musicians, their songs bring nothing new to the genre of
’60s- and ’70s-inspired rock.

Everything in the set seemed to be filler for the time between
Robinson’s guitar solos. The dragging choruses and verses
seemed indistinguishable from each other, with cliché lyrics
and a lot of slide guitar parts. The keyboard did make some of the
songs slightly more interesting but failed to make the music any
more memorable.

However boring the songs may have been, the band did have an
extremely loving crowd. Most of the concertgoers were in their late
30s to early 40s and probably listened to this kind of music when
they were growing up. They were too young to be total hippies but
too old to have been involved in the ’80s pop/new wave
music.

The nostalgia that Robinson inspired overrode his lack of
showmanship on the stage.

Most of the audience was completely into his set and awaited
each solo and new song with the anticipation first-graders have for
recess.

Robinson could have been singing in Swahili and been playing the
same song repeatedly, and the viewers wouldn’t have
cared.

They all seemed to be huge Black Crowes fans who wanted to see
one of the band members in a close, intimate club setting, playing
a familiar style of music, which is exactly what Robinson did.

The songwriting sets Rich Robinson’s solo band apart from
his former group. His solo project’s songs lack the hooks and
catchy choruses the Black Crowes had; this is not bad, per se, but
Robinson simply will not enjoy the commercial success that the
Black Crowes did. The bottom line is that Rich Robinson and his
band are great musicians who love to jam, but the non-classic rock
lover might find them a bore.

–Vasiliki Marras