When Rives Meet live at The Garage, London, 2022

British contemporary blues-rock When Rives Meet brings their The Flying Free Tour with support from the British king of slide guitar Troy Redfern. This is my first time seeing them and I know I’m in for a treat!

Since bursting onto the UK Blues scene in 2020 with debut EPs, British husband and wife, Grace and Aaron Bond have been going from strength to strength and have built an ever-growing online fan base. At the end of 2020, they released their long-awaited debut album “We Fly Free” and it has been critically acclaimed by UK radio and rock music magazines. A year after, WRM released their album “Saving Grace” and the single “Never Coming Home”.

After a quick queue outside the venue, I make my way into the photo pit and sit patiently till the show starts.

After what seems a really long wait, Troy Redfern makes his magic appearance in the shadows of the stage. Even though he is riding solo without his backing band this evening, Troy makes us dream and take it to another level. I am not sure he is from this planet!

Troy’s husky blues vocals, paired with his slide’s craftmanship make an unmissable live performance. With his unique sound, he left the entire room in awe, cheering and screaming every time he would step aside from the microphone to perform a guitar solo.

You can feel the passion he has for his music as he talks about his other guitar while telling us a story about “her”. He is not only playing a fantastic set of his songs but also adds a few covers such as “John the Revelator” and “Voodoo Chile”.

Hands-on as Troy already set the bar pretty high for the evening and warm up the crowd for the main artist. Ladies and Gentlemen, When Rivers Meet finally hit the stage and people cannot wait for it any longer.

Lead singer Grace Bond mentions that this was supposed to be a tour in support of their full-length album, but due to the pandemic had to be postponed till now, so obviously, they are super excited. And you can tell by their astonished face when they see the massive crowd tonight.

WRM has a unique and harmonic vocal approach to songwriting, with dirty electric guitars that create a distinctive and contemporary blues rock sound that echoes 1970s classic rock with hints of the 1930s blues that inspire them. Grace’s powerful vocals meet perfectly with Aaron’s harmonies, along with a huge guitar sound. Those guys pulled up an incredible night of good old live music.

If you haven’t managed to catch them live just yet, you are still in luck as they have more UK dates for their headliner tour, followed by European and US tours later in the year.

When Rivers Meet Setlist: