Robert Jon & The Wreck + These Wicked Rivers – 8th October 2026

Live from The o2 Academy, Oxford

© Andy Balcam, Balcshootsbands

Rising up from the Derby delta These Wicked Rivers have spent more than a decade proving that you don’t have to be from the Deep South in order to sound like you’re from the Deep South.

The subterranean grooves of Rich Wilson and Dan Southall enriched with Jack Baldwin’s sweet Hammond could not be more authentic and provide the quintessential Southern Rock feather bed for John Hartwell’s soulful growl and guitar wizard Arran Day’s searing six-string sorcery.

Their 5-song set kicks off in emphatic fashion with Shine On from 2020 album Eden before the first of 2 tunes from brilliantly titled new album Fire And Folklore. Ain’t No Smoke is classic ‘Rivers – built around a nagging guitar riff and honeyed harmonies, you can’t help but move in time and sing along.

Testify and, another new one, Horse To Water follow but it’s epic set closer Don’t Pray For Me, from 2024 album Force Of Nature, that really tears the roof off the Academy!

Opening with that gorgeous Hammond and Hartwell’s almost spoken testimony the piece builds and builds … and then builds some more – the band kick into overdrive and Day steps forward with his double neck guitar and explodes into a climactic solo like throwing a lighted match into a box of high explosives. Dynamite!

They’re on tour later this year – one not to be missed.

This is the last night of Robert Jon & The Wreck’s 6-date UK tour and there’s a giddy end-of-term feel to their performance.

After 15 years RJ&TW have amassed an impressive catalogue of musical treasures and have been mixing up their set across the UK gigs. Tonight they settle for a collection of classic bangers old and new.

The band launch into Pain No More and Blame It On The Whiskey with cheerful abandon – both numbers inspiring the Thursday night Oxford crowd to throw their heads back and holler along.

Five on the bounce from 2025 album Heartbreaks and Last Goodbyes follow highlighting the band’s range and breadth from the frenzy of Sittin’ Pretty through the soaring gospel of Heartbreak and Last Goodbye to the joyful ‘woo-hooing’ of Dark Angel.

6 shows in and the band have reached their cruising altitude and all systems are fully locked in. Rhythm machine Andrew Espantman delivers a genuinely delicious drum solo choosing finesse and subtlety over pure battery. Warren Murrel’s snarling bass and Jake Abernathie’s luscious keys are so tight they could be one instrument.

At the front ringmaster Robert Jon Burrison is in fine voice and looks to be having the time of his life as he leaps around the Academy stage whilst guitar ninja Henry James, surely one of the modern greats, is effortlessly imperious out on the left.

The 80-minute main set reaches it’s dramatic crescendo via the sing-along-a-tastic crowd favourite Oh Miss Carolina (…which RJ declares to be the best audience response of the tour so far!), a truly jubilant Do You Remember and the all time classic Cold Night. The latter is expended out way beyond 10 minutes as Henry James forges a dazzling solo before trading licks with Abernathie in a forever building question and answer segment.

For their well deserved encore the boys bring out the ‘River’s Arran Day to join them on a euphoric rendition of J.J Cale/Lynyrd Skynyrd classic Call Me The Breeze. It’s a wonderful way to end a wonderful night.

Don’t stay away too long boys!