Somewhere Apart: Robyn Hitchcock, South Street Arts Centre, 30th April 2019
The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again...
...back once again to the wonderful venue that is South Street Arts Centre, this time to see the even more wonderful Robyn Hitchcock and support, in the form of Jessica Lee Morgan, which is where I'll begin...
Jessica Lee Morgan is the daughter of singer Mary Hopkin (best known for her hit single 'Those Were The Days', staple of many a drunken evening underground in the frozen north) and Toni Visconti (most famous, I guess, as the producer of many of David Bowie's albums).
She plays guitar and sings and is ably assisted by her partner, Chris Thomas, on bass. I have to confess she and her music had passed me by, but as the set progressed I warmed to the music. Since I was probably less than 10 feet away from her, there's a real intimacy to the performance and a couple of songs from her set, most notably 'Around The Block' (whose lyrics and delivery struck a chord) and 'Cut Down, Broken Down', drew me in. She and Chris had an easy way with each other and with the audience which also warmed the crowd to her.
Listening to some of the songs on the albums after the gig I was struck by how much they took on a different life in a live setting, with just guitar and bass as accompaniment. Really glad to have seen her live and to have got to know some of her songs.
After the set she and Chris came out to the back of the hall to sell her albums and chat to the audience. They were both really friendly and Chris, whose guitar strap gave away his allegiance to a certain North London football team, said, jokingly, the moment he'd played one section twice in one of the songs was because he'd just seen that Ajax had scored against Spurs in the Championship league semi-final.
At around 9:15 pm the man everyone had come to see took to the stage. Dressed in a black and white polka dot shirt, similar to the one at the head of this blog, set up and, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica, went straight into 'Man with a Woman's Shadow'. For the first song, it was hard to tell what frame of mind he was in, but after he'd sung the first, we discovered we were in for a treat: the prologue to almost every song was a humorous and, at times, surreal, monologue with occasional audience interaction. These ramblings were worth the price of admission alone and I wish I'd captured them, for their warmth, humour and, sheer, joyous humanity. Rarely did a smile leave my face. No set list or commentary from me can convey the exuberance of these diversions.
Next up was a favourite of mine, 'My Wife and My Dead Wife', in which the richness and range of his voice were highlighted. Thankfully, for anyone daft enough to read the effusions of yours truly, I shan't list every song in the set, though, as per tradition, there will be a playlist containing all of the songs, less one unidentified one.
The venue became incredibly warm, so after just over an hour, Robyn suggested we take a short break - long enough for "a drink, a visit to the bathroom or a smoke, but not all three" - before he returned, initially, to play songs at the keyboard. During the break he'd changed his shirt for something more floral, as it was damn warm in the hall.
The venue has an 11pm curfew, and so mid-song intro a guy from the staff interrupted to tell Robyn, he had 5 minutes left, resulting in a hastened intro and dive straight into the final number, 'Queen Elvis'.
Song over, there was much applause and a farewell: annoyingly, I think Robyn was in the mood to play on, and this is where the curfew seems a bit ludicrous - surely it could be extended by 30 minutes, but, it's in a residential area, so I guess that's the limiting factor. These days so many venues are being closed down as houses are built where once there were bars, offices and the like, and places like this have to be treasured and their restrictions tolerated.
After the set she and Chris came out to the back of the hall to sell her albums and chat to the audience. They were both really friendly and Chris, whose guitar strap gave away his allegiance to a certain North London football team, said, jokingly, the moment he'd played one section twice in one of the songs was because he'd just seen that Ajax had scored against Spurs in the Championship league semi-final.
At around 9:15 pm the man everyone had come to see took to the stage. Dressed in a black and white polka dot shirt, similar to the one at the head of this blog, set up and, accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica, went straight into 'Man with a Woman's Shadow'. For the first song, it was hard to tell what frame of mind he was in, but after he'd sung the first, we discovered we were in for a treat: the prologue to almost every song was a humorous and, at times, surreal, monologue with occasional audience interaction. These ramblings were worth the price of admission alone and I wish I'd captured them, for their warmth, humour and, sheer, joyous humanity. Rarely did a smile leave my face. No set list or commentary from me can convey the exuberance of these diversions.
Next up was a favourite of mine, 'My Wife and My Dead Wife', in which the richness and range of his voice were highlighted. Thankfully, for anyone daft enough to read the effusions of yours truly, I shan't list every song in the set, though, as per tradition, there will be a playlist containing all of the songs, less one unidentified one.
The venue became incredibly warm, so after just over an hour, Robyn suggested we take a short break - long enough for "a drink, a visit to the bathroom or a smoke, but not all three" - before he returned, initially, to play songs at the keyboard. During the break he'd changed his shirt for something more floral, as it was damn warm in the hall.
The venue has an 11pm curfew, and so mid-song intro a guy from the staff interrupted to tell Robyn, he had 5 minutes left, resulting in a hastened intro and dive straight into the final number, 'Queen Elvis'.
Song over, there was much applause and a farewell: annoyingly, I think Robyn was in the mood to play on, and this is where the curfew seems a bit ludicrous - surely it could be extended by 30 minutes, but, it's in a residential area, so I guess that's the limiting factor. These days so many venues are being closed down as houses are built where once there were bars, offices and the like, and places like this have to be treasured and their restrictions tolerated.
Post-gig I've gone back to the albums - solo, with the Egyptians and as The Soft Boys, which has been a revelation, firstly because I hadn't realised just how prolific he's been, but secondly, because I discovered on YouTube some footage of him being interviewed about Syd Barrett. He talks of the influence of Syd on his beginnings as a musician, he talks about the wondrous nature of Syd's two solo albums and also covers a couple of the songs. This has sent me back to 'The Madcap Laughs' and 'Barrett' and reminded me just how magnificent, fragile, painfully dark and beautiful those albums are. I've put a link to the YouTube video at the end, just in case...
I can't finish a review without some kind of playlist and this one is no exception. Creating a complete playlist for this gig has proved tricky: neither YouTube nor Spotify have all his albums and, since his set ranged across his entire career from the Soft Boys to this years 7" single (vinyl / digital only), it has been impossible to find every song. The YouTube playlist includes live versions which, in the case of the first song, gives a flavour of the kind of intro that we heard on the night.
Anyway, here's a set playlist, in the right order, I think, but minus one unidentified song and the things that just ain't out there. Enjoy!
I can't finish a review without some kind of playlist and this one is no exception. Creating a complete playlist for this gig has proved tricky: neither YouTube nor Spotify have all his albums and, since his set ranged across his entire career from the Soft Boys to this years 7" single (vinyl / digital only), it has been impossible to find every song. The YouTube playlist includes live versions which, in the case of the first song, gives a flavour of the kind of intro that we heard on the night.
Anyway, here's a set playlist, in the right order, I think, but minus one unidentified song and the things that just ain't out there. Enjoy!
...and in Spotify form...
Robyn talks Syd Barrett...
Comments
Post a Comment