York was privileged to play host to a band now in the middle of a UK tour supporting The Who on the Quadrophenia tour, about to play Glastonbury this weekend and soon to support The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park.

They should need no introduction but sadly many have still not heard of, let alone heard and be made to dance by, the retro sound of Vintage Trouble.

They hail from the other side of the Pond and bring with them the soulful R&B that replicates the famous Stax Revues of the 1960s. There is a raw energy and grittiness about their music, hence my describing their sound “The Rolling Stones with a black soul singer”.

It came as no surprise then that they are supporting bands of such huge stature whose influences stem from black American Sixties R&B and the British youth culture of Mod.

Dressed sharply in slim-fitting three piece suits, neck ties, pocket handkerchiefs, crisp shirts and polished leather shoes, they take to the stage to rapturous hollers, applause and whistles. The PA pushes out a gospel-influenced tune with sweet yet poignant female vocals reminiscent of Big Maybelle and Nina Simone. The stage is definitely set.

Valve-driven guitar amps crank up with a thumping drum beat and then a soulful vocal cuts through the set opener, Low Down Dirty Dog. You are transported to the sweaty, dank and dark clubs of legendary tales – the kind of places Junior Wells, A. C. Reed, Little Johnny Taylor and the like would have played, taking the blues of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Lightin’ Hopkins in a different direction. They started adding rhythm to the Blues, hence rhythm & blues.

Next up is another u-ptempo gem, a cover of Joe Tex’s Show Me, a number that is still played on the Northern Soul scene. Vintage Trouble rip it up with blistering guitars and drums and raspy vocals and the slick riffs keep coming in their own compositions, Strike Your Light, Pelvic Pusher (surely a homage to Elvis), Blues Hand Me Down and Nancy Lee.

Then there is a break with an acoustic-style set of slower, more folk blues-based tunes, including “ot Alright By Me.

They are then back to the up-tempo R&B of Nancy Lee, Total Strangers and the anthemic Nobody Told Me, a slow soul ballad in the mould of Sam Cooke or Otis Redding that still gets the crowd singing along.

It is very easy on the ears and could be the song that shoots Vintage Trouble to superstardom in their own right. Perhaps a more up-tempo number will do it for them. If so, contenders would be Nancy Lee and Total Strangers. Their sound has a broad appeal for anyone who loves soul music or the Brit Pop/Mod bands of the 1960s and so it is easily understandable why their Fibbers show sold out.

Your reviewer cannot recommend seeing Vintage Trouble highly enough. The only problem will be actually acquiring the tickets to see them. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on some, you will thoroughly enjoy the maximum R&B experience in its original form.

- Jason Chinnian