RH played The Starlight Club here in Waterloo last night (Tuesday, the 13th of November)... it started out a bit late as Robyn and Sean Nelson's (from Seattle band Harvey Danger) van was broken into Monday night in Toronto and his guitars were stolen, but thanks to The Barenaked Ladies he was given a replacement. Then during the first song a girl right beside the stage wouldn't stop talking, so he politely asked her to either stop or move further to the back of the room as it's hard to concentrate. A little bickering ensued as she kept claiming she wasn't talking (she was... ), but eventually she backed down and moved. I thought, 'Oh great, the first time I get to see him and he's in a foul mood now!' - and who could blame him? But that wasn't the case as from that point on everything went perfect. It was a fairly small crowd - perhaps 50 people - but very enthusiastic.
Here's what he played...

(acoustic):
Chinese Bones
The Ghost Ship
Autumn Is Your Last Chance
Olé! Tarantula
Sally Was a Legend
English Girl
Glass Hotel
(with Sean Nelson):
Cynthia Mask
Queen Elvis
*the next track I'm not sure of the title, but it had several repeated lines... 'Falling Out / Thin Line / Take It Away'. I'll have to research this!
Sometimes a Blonde
(electric / with SN):
I Often Dream of Trains
Creeped Out
Queen of Eyes
You and Oblivion
(encore):
Candy Says
Adventure Rocket Ship

My only wish is that I had some recording equipment, but then there were notices posted of 'No audio or video recording allowed' in the club - standard policy I assume...
After the show I picked up an 'I kiss you in the past' t-shirt and the recent Harvey Danger cd 'Little By Little' which Sean signed (what a nice and funny guy, and what a voice he has!)
Then Robyn came out after a few more minutes and in I got my place... my son had snagged a promo poster for me and Robyn asked if he'd like it signed. 'Sure!' he beamed.
I then handed him the free copy of 'The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream' that Proverus sent along with the pre-order of BfA (I'd been saving it to give to somebody eventually, and when the show was announced I knew I finally had that somebody). He asked who it was and I told him all about The Pillbugs, and that over the years there's only been a handful of bands that affected me in such a way (including XTC and Robyn himself). "Well, I'll definitely have a listen then!" he said as he pocketed the disc
I told him I've been a fan since 'Underwater Moonlight' in '81. "You must be very old then" he said to me... I just smiled as I took out the stack of covers from my backpack. He asked if I'd like them signed. "Until you get writers cramp or tell me to piss-off, yes please!" was my reply.
I handed him IWGB first and he said "Wow! You've got this already!" So I explained I had pre-ordered from YepRock and it had arrived the previous Monday and that over the last few years I always ordered from The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock or YepRock, both being the easiest and fastest route to his music. He said "Yeah, Yep Rock's got this one. You won't see it at The Museum... "
While signing away we talked about Syd Barrett and his work with Andy Partridge, and he also commented several times "You HAVE been a fan for ages!" and "I don't even have some of these!". At one point my son asked if he could take a picture of Robyn and I together which he politely declined. Rather then just saying "No", he explained that he really doesn't like to be photographed and that's why many of his album covers are of his paintings and drawings. The only person he lets take his picture is his wife Michelle (and they're generally snaps taken by surprise)... "Now, people like Peter Buck love to be photographed" he joked. :)
He told us how much he liked our town of Waterloo... what he'd seen of it anyway (the lights of Uptown and The Huether Hotel down the block), then he handed back my stack of inserts (29 in all) and thanked us again and headed off on his way. A very good night indeed!!

There was more of course, but being the star-struck-tongue-tied fool that I am that's about the best I can do...

-mk-