Never Too Late

Just prior to the pandemic, I bought myself a ticket to see my adolescent hero, Tom Robinson, on his 70th birthday tour. I’ve written about him many times in this journal so I won’t repeat myself, except to say that his music was a constant companion as I navigated those tricky teenage years and tried to ‘find myself’. And he’s remained on my playlist ever since. 

Of course, that gig in May 2020 was postponed. More than once. But, lo and behold, after a trifling 2-year delay, Tom was finally back in Liverpool tonight, for the latest leg of the ‘Never Too Late’ tour, along with band members Adam Phillips (lead guitar, vocals), Lee Forsyth Griffith (acoustic guitar, vocals), Andy Treacey (drums) and Jim Simmons (keyboards, vocals). Tom, of course, handled bass duties, lead vocals, wit, charm and righteous anger.  

Following a couple of solo acoustic numbers and a spontaneous rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the audience, the band kicked off with a rousing ‘Bully For You’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIavik9iv_A and continued to serve up pretty much everything a fan would wish to hear, sometimes including bang-up-to-the-minute lyrical re-writes. At the end Tom was presented with a birthday cake (he turns 72 on the 1st June) and the assembled throng of old codgers (myself included) sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him for a second time. There’s a lot of love for Tom. Quite right too.