Robben Ford @ Pleasure Island

November 7, 1998

Robben Ford played two sets for a total of two hours and fifteen minutes at Pleasure Island, Walt Disney World for their blues weekend. I have been wanting to see Robben Ford for a long time and I was not disappointed at his show.

Both sets were totally different except for the repeat of "Start It Up" in the middle of both sets. He played his telecaster for about the same amount of time as his 'signature' Fender guitar. I found it interesting that his telecaster sound was pretty mellow and while it had that Fender sound did not have the shrill sound that a lot of telecasters have. Maybe it was due to his amp settings (treble on 3, mid and bass both on 5) but he sounded great and an enthusesatic crowd really showed it's appreciation.

His pedal board setup is pretty basic, two channel switch for fender amp, Crybaby 535 Wah, Ernie Ball volume pedal and a small midi board which basicly switches between two or three various echo/reverb patches in a processor. The amp appears to be set for clean and slightly overdriven sound, not very heavy, just enough to give a little sustain on his notes.

Robben Ford is a very tasteful blues guitar player with a distintive jazz influence. He has some very unusual phrasings which totally are his own and immediately recogniszble. I recommend that you check him out if you ever get the chance. Since he spends most of his time on the west coast, you have to catch his shows when you can.

[scroll down for more photos]