World Cafe Live is a beautiful place to see a show--easy to park, spacious, nice stage, great sound, unobtrusive wait staff, smoke free, reasonably priced food and drink. An altogether pleasant experience.

Robyn seemed a bit tired but the only other thing I could have possibly asked from the show would have been some songs on electric. Maybe a couple more songs from Spooked also. He looked great, his voice sounded good, his guitar playing was stellar and the set kept going on and on. I hope a good recording surfaces. This was definitely the warm fuzzies. He said he would be signing things after the show but I had to leave.

There were a couple more encores after a short break and a change of clothing, the medley unmiked down on the floor with the audience, the second up on stage (with Elvis sneer and all!):

Warm fuzzies back atcha :)
Roberta


I would rate the 4 shows as follows:

1 Philly
2 Brooklyn/Scranton
3 Hoboken

What Hoboken lacked in focus it more than made up for in length. Brooklyn was great but seemed forced due to time constraints. The Scranton show was great but short and not a request show. The Philly show just had all the components for a great Robyn show; plenty of surreal monologues, some surprises in the set, decent length, an honest to goodness encore on top of his 'there is no encore tonight, this is the encore' policy and a bizarre Bowie impression to close it.

The encore had him coming back on stage in his traveling clothes. He didn't plug in and just hopped into the crowd and with the crowd encircling him he launched into Rock your Baby and a medley of twisted Philly Soul. He didn't move until he started playing Sound & Vision in a funny Bowie voice and then stood at the edge of the crowd hamming it up. He hopped back on stage and did All Shook Up, not just a vocal impression of Elvis but the whole shebang, hips and sneering lip. I wish I had video!

I want to do it again!

Max


You know, every time he rolls into "town" (which has changed a lot for me in the last few years) I think, oh man. Should I go? The bitter disappointment of the Soft Boys reunion lingered long in my mouth. To explain: I flew on a propeller plane from Evansville, Indiana to NYC (it was a windy day, and I mightily bowed to the plastic bag god on the plane) to see the Soft Boys, no strike that, to see Kimberley Rew perform a Soft Boys show at Maxwell's and everybody else show up either stoned (Robyn), fat, old and lifeless (Morris - and he was SUCH a great drummer in the 80's and 90's - wha' happened?!?), or petrified and still re-learning the tunes (Matthew - who did answer my emails, cheers mate). The Irving Plaza show was better, but still the Young Fresh Fellows blew them off the stage. Also, I had seen a questionable show at the Bowery Ballroom during the Jewels For Sophia period.

So I think - should I go? Last Halloween at the Bottom Line was an awesome show. Luxor grows on me more every day. I like Spooked, I love the fact that RH is playing with musicians worthy of playing his songs, but do I like Spooked enough to go see him again? At the last minute I called to see if there were tickets left. There were. I went.

Let's put it this way: I'm never going to question the call of the Feg again. When RH comes, I will go. It's as simple as that. It's been 17 years since I saw my first Robyn Hitchcock show and, I kid you not, this may have been the best. Why? Was it the fact that what I consider his "throwaway" songs like Penelope's Angles and Speed of Things were like shining crystals gleaming through the 21st century darkness? Was it the fact that he played the top two songs on the request list that I threw at him (Mexican God and Idonia)? Was it Brenda's Iron Sledge aka Funkytown? Was it Gene Hackman?

Just for opening the show with A Skull, A Suitcase, and A Long Red Bottle of Wine, he deserves to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I've never seen so clearly the fact that you cannot separate the man from his music. He reached back into his catalog and delivered unbelievable versions of Heaven and Ride. He never sang them with that much emotion in the 80's and 90's. During Idonia, I swear he was tearing up. The man who invented himself with the lightbulb head moved to tears by the words of his songs? More likely he'd ooze pus all over the audience. You know what I mean. I've never seen him express so clearly how much these songs meant to him. Maybe it's because all these years I've been thinking about what they meant to me when he sang them. I feel so selfish. As a fellow performer, I know that feeling when you're singing onstage and you sing a word or a phrase that just rings out that universal freakin' chord and you feel overwhelmed with emotion. It doesn't happen all the time, especially to hardasses like me and RH hahaha.

Sorry I doubted you, RH. Never again. I'm on this train for life. Feg Long and Undulate. Here's to another 17 years. Great gig, baby. Wish I could remember the set list to recite to you guys, but was too busy connecting with the MONKEY GOD, Hanuman, during the set. Aw yeah indeed.

Best,
Chris


Delurking briefly to say that the show at the new World Cafe Live space was a lot of fun. Robyn had quite the frog in his throat at the beginning, but he limbered up. Vocally, that is physically, it was pretty funny to watch him bend over like a stork to pick up all the notes people kept putting at his feet. I'm terrible at remembering which songs were played in what order, so I'll leave that to others, but I can proffer a visual tidbit: a purple light shining on Robyn's silver hair turns it into a wonderfully Warholian lavender thatch.

The new venue is nice and sounds great, but it's oddly sterile. It kind of feels like being the first to arrive at a party - nobody's figured out where the good parking is yet, everything is spiffy clean, and the staff is all bright-eyed and keyed-up. It needs a few hundred beers to wash over the floor before it starts to feel alive. Although, as someone I was with said, that all stopped mattering once Robyn began to play.

Jeanne