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Robyn Hitchcock
Concert appearance: Fri., 16 June 2000
Bottom Line
New York, New York US
Set 1
Set list:
Mexican God
Balloon Man
Aquarium
You and Oblivion
Trilobite
Glass Hotel
I Used to Love You (piano)
Flavour of Night (piano)
I Wish I Liked You
Queen Elvis
Heart Full of Leaves
The Devil's Coachman
My Wife and My Dead Wife
Encore: Ulysses (James Joyce) (cold reading over piano)
Encore: Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd)
So we saw Robyn Friday night at the Bottom Line. I took a bunch of
pictures of everyone, so those will be coming along soon... Jet! (who
prefers his real name remain a mystery) was there, and he took a
number of very fine pictures with his digital camera, so hopefully he
will share them with the list.
Tony B and Kate were there, and we all received some VERY FINE
CDs from Tony-- THANKS!! They're GREAT stuff...Tony is such a cool
guy-! They went with us to see Shane McGowan and the Popes on
Saturday night as well...but more about that debacle later...
So Robyn was in rare form Friday night. Lots of good stuff, lots of
crazy covers, and he was talkative and quite funny. The particulars:
1.) Shirt: Black and white polka dot
2.) Blinking: Profusely, especially during second show. My new
theory is that he does it to count time, sort of like a blinking
metronome.
3.) head flipping: Moderate.
4.) head flipping variation: with 2 pairs of glasses on head
5.) Saturation of Paste Eating Geeks in audience: Immeasurable
6.) baskets of fries consumed: 4
7.) quality of fries: poor to moderate
Highlights:
1.)This dumb-looking guy with a BLEEDING WOUND on his neck was
sitting in front of Robyn and he kept hooting and yelling things out
(loudly) at inappropriate moments. He actually made Robyn wince a
few times.
2.) Fegs in attendance: Jet! and a couple of his friends, TGQ, Woj,
Chris G, Jon F, Tony & Kate, and Ferris. Our friend Judie
was there too-- she's a semi feg now.
3.) Jon brought Robyn a giant turnip, and we threw it on the piano
bench for him right before the encore. He goes, "Is this a giant
radish or are you just happy to see me?"
4.) THEN, TGQ stands up and hands him his copy of Ulysses. Everyone
yells out that it's Bloomsday, so Robyn opens to a page and does a
reading to a psychedelic cover of "Astronomy Domine". That was COOL!
5.) I imagine that the recordings of the show may include the
following dialogue: "Give Robyn the turnip now!" "I'm not going to
do it!" "Go on, you're sitting closest to the stage!" "No way!
Make Allen do it!" "Allen! Give Robyn the turnip!" -song begins
here...
But the adventure truly began the next night when we went to see
Shane McGowan. It was me, Judie, Chris, Allen, and then we met up
with Tony and Kate at a bar around the corner from Irving Plaza (New
Yorkers will know it as that crappy "number bar" with the big Elvis
poster right next to backstage). (Drinking at the bar was actually
the highlight of the evening, as we were soon to find out.) Shane
McGowan was an HOUR AND A HALF late!! Tony and Kate left after about
45 minutes, and I left after an hour and five minutes. It was
MISERY...the crowd was rowdy and hostile, with lots of big asshole
guys shoving everyone around and trying to pick fights. And the
longer we waited, the more hostile and DRUNK everyone got! I was so
glad that I left... you'll have to ask TGQ or Chris for the rest of
this tale, but apparently the crowd started throwing beers, and
someone bounced a full beer off of Shane's head... ( I went home and
watched Saturday night Live. I think it may have finally happened:
I'm too f**king OLD and CRANKY for this kind of sh*t!!!!)
--
LJ
I wasnt expecting a good time
In fact I had almost been arrested; I reckon thats one reason why I just
gave Robyn my bookbag and ran. Well, basically, I gave it to the guy at the
club, and he passed it along, but you get the idea
I had met Robyn once before, up in Piermont (great place for a show; if
you were not careful the opening act might poke your eye out with her bow!)
He seemed very kind. And of course I was very sillly and gave him a Love t
shirt and asked him for a hug; but what surprised me then was how kind he
seemed, and talkative, not hard to get with. I would not have thought it so,
to be plain. In some of his songs Robyn can be rather daffy (Certainly
Clickot anyone?) but focus in on the truth with unerring precision: "Most
people havent got brains" As Robyn noted in a 95 MTV interview, hed have no
problem in writing a song if he had something fantastically witty to say;
and of all the songs on Star for bram, this (1974) was one of them!
Back to the Bottom line. So I give Robyn - well, I tell the man at the
club that I should like if he gets my stuff to Robyn, give it all in a bag
so maybe they dont TAKE anything; I mean, who wouldnt stroll off with a Syd
t shirt, not to mention of dozen tapes of Syd/Nick Drake outtakes; I know if
I saw a tape with takes 1 and 2 of wined and dined on it, itd be gone in a
minute pronto!
Anyways, so I pass out, watch the show. Enjoy company, notice all the
beautiful women around. AS IS MY WONT. Im totally exhausted and have had a
bad day. In addition, I havent slept for quite a few days cos Ive been
making all these tapes for Robyn off Cd-r.
So Im exhausted. Im still pretty up for the first show, but for the 2nd,
all I can do is sit there and flirt outrageously with this gorgeous girl
Steph (ah Steph! where are you now girl?! )
Now, Ive never seen Robyn play piano, so its a real treat for me. He strolls
over. But then he does the REALLY surprising thing of strapping on a harp
Then begins a song no one knows - I used to love you. And a surprising
Flavour of night (no harp on this one kiddies)
As the plaster falls down from the ceiling with the dwindling of
clamorous applause, I wish I liked you follows immediately on guitar, and it
sounds really nice. I dont really like Bram; its a strange record, and I can
understand why it wasnt commercially released. But - God! how good the
songs sound on their own; no wonder Robyns always despised overproduction,
and wanting to just CUT a song, and always loved demos (Indeed some of his
demos are beyond beautiful - Raymond chandler eve)
Again no talk (or not much of it anyway) before the harp goes on for
Queen Elvis. A great song but GOD! its nice to hear the harp on it for a
change!
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