Thirty-six years after rock anthem All Right Now, there's something of a Free revival, with a TV-advertised best-of album and a solo tour from their former frontman. However, the band itself won't be back, not least because gifted guitarist Paul Kossoff died after long-term drug problems in 1976. Here, the tragic bluesman's spot is taken by curtain-haired Kurtis Dengler, at 17 the same age as Rodgers was when he formed Free. Eerily, the whole stage set hails from a bygone era - Marshall stacks and a purple Ludwig drum kit.

None of this is quite as odd as the sight of Rodgers. Apart from having shorter hair, he looks barely five years older than he did in 1970. With whitened teeth and unfeasibly tight trousers, it's no wonder he looks permanently startled.

Most of the set features Free classics similarly transported through time. I'll Be Creepin' and The Stealer sound fantastic, although the time machine has trouble moving forward. The new War Boys sounds like something from the new wave of British heavy metal, circa 1980. At least with anti-war sentiments, Rodgers is giving of himself. He doesn't speak enough - oh, for a 1970s anecdote involving drugs, groupies or fish - the vocal gymnastics can sound more technical than soulful, and lines like, "My troubles have just begun," don't square with a grinning showman.

However, Feel Like Making Love - from Rodgers' other 1970s supergroup, Bad Company - overcomes a limp beginning and Wishing Well is thunderous. All Right Now is briefly threatened by a ghastly audience clapalong but prompts the surreal sight of a load of pensionable balding rockers rushing the stage.

· At Symphony Hall, Birmingham (0121-780 3333), tomorrow. Then touring