Robyn Hitchcock: Melbourne: 2006/10: Spiegeltent, Ballarat, and Swan Hotel Richmond. With the Minus 5 guys on the back of Ole Tarantula. Really rather good. Had a chat to Peter Buck - members of the brotherhood of Hitchcock lead guitarists...

Robert Lamb
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I also saw the Melbourne Spiegeltent and Sydney Basement shows.

I thought I'd jot down some notes about the Spiegeltent gig for anyone who wasn't there.

I'm sorry to say that this was my first ever Robyn gig, although I'm also proud and lucky to have seen it.

The Spiegeltent is a round prefabricated timber building that reminded me of a 1890's carousel.

It was beautiful and ornate and theatrical. The inner posts had small mirrors up them, so it was like being in a tasteful wooden mirror ball! Ideal for Robyn's music!

This is the setlist:
1. If You Were A Priest
2. Sally Was A Legend
3. Ole Tarantula
4. Queen of Eyes
5. Adventure Rocket Ship
6. New York Doll
7. Beautiful Queen
8. Somewhere Apart
9. A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations, Briggs
10. Madonna of the Wasps
11. Creeped Out
12. Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)
13. (?).
14. Eight Miles High
15. I Wanna Destroy You

I haven't worked out track 9 yet and would appreciate some help.

Most importantly, Robyn wore his black and white polka dot shirt!

This was the most talkative of Robyn's gigs. There was a more theatrical feel to the gig. I think the audience was more formal. I even sensed by the look of most of the people there that there were a lot of freebies who didn't know what to expect.

I'm going to write down my notes literally, whether or not I understand the content or their significance. It would be good if anyone could make sense or elaborate on the references.

Robyn remarked that the last time he had played in the Spiegeltent was in Edinburgh, so he had some prior history. It really suited the baroque world of his imagination.

He introduced Priest by mentioning that he had been reading "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. I haven't read it, but will have to now!

He also mentioned "immortal mothers", "portals" and "twilight in the Spiegeltent".

Hopefully, a recording will turn up, so that this all makes more sense.

Sally was very Beatlesque and the beginning of a realisation that there was going to be some beautiful guitarwork and interplay between Robyn and Peter.

As with all of the gigs, Peter did more rhythm and Robyn did both rhythm and lead guitar. Peter looked really whimsical throughout. Listening to the Portland gig from March, I noticed that Robyn said that Peter was just getting over a very painful back. I don't know what the injury was or whether he still has it. However, at all three gigs Peter had a look that suggested to me that he was stifling pain. I even thought at one stage that he looked like he had had a stroke, because one side of his face looked a bit drawn and expressionless. Sorry if I offend anyone by mentioning this. I hope the guy is OK. His guitar certainly didn't suffer.

Tarantula has some of that Basement Tapes era Dylan feel.

Robyn talked about Dylan and Minnesota and cuban heeled boots and where "babies come from". Again, I'll need to hear a recording to explain that!

Before Queen of Eyes he kept talking about cuban heels and guitar strings. He kept walking over the guitar leads in his boots, sort of justifying the boots as protection against the electricity in the cables. He mentioned someone called Robert Lamb. Don't know which one or the meaning of this reference.

Before Adventure Rocket Ship he mentioned Earth being in touch with a rocket carrying a cargo of something, maybe "smart rice". He mentioned this "contamination we know as humanity".

Also the fact that the song was under three minutes.

New York Doll was about "an exotic junk ravaged dream". Arthur Kane "had his dreams out".

He also mentioned Morrissey getting the Dolls together for the Meltdown Festival and having recently seen the doco on the Dolls and Arthur.

This is a really beautiful song. I love the first line "I never finished the book", as if it starts mid-conversation.

Beautiful Queen got a really nice eastern treatment with Peter on 12 string.

He also mentioned "as Kimberley would say, the smart money's on" something. I love that line about two dogs in Linctus House.

He finished with a reference to every cloud being numbered in the library. (I wonder whether he has read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell? I like David Mitchell's novels.)

For Somewhere Apart the banter started with John Cale and Ship of Fools, passed on to Woodie Guthrie and John Lennon and ended with the statement "association wins again".

I haven't heard anything about Robyn and John Cale before, though their birthdays are only six days apart (3 and 9 March). Lou Reed is on 2 March. He played Waiting for the Man at the Fab Club in Tokyo. What is going on?

Before Briggs, he tuned his guitar and talked about Tokyo and the scene with Jack Nicholson in the porn theatre in the Departed. If you've seen it, you'll know what appendage of Jack's I'm referring to!

Madonna was dedicated to Dave Graney and Clare Moore who were at the show. He described it as a religious experience.

Beatle Dennis was dedicated to the girlfriends. He mentioned Michelle. I don't know whether she was there or not.

He dedicated Destroy You to Dick Cheney, and it was all over.

Neither Sydney nor Katoomba was as "bantered" a show, although Katoomba got a long Madonna of the Wasps story as a "picture" to accompany the song.

Over the three shows he occasionally referred to the beautiful music being made when he and Peter tuned their guitars. It was beautiful too. Often it just segued into a song like 8 Miles High or something else with an oriental feel, e.g., Beautiful Queen.

I hope some of you get something out of these notes, even if I haven't made much sense out of them myself.

Cheers,

Inkster