setlist approximate, possibly inaccurate

Confession time - despite being a long-time member of this mailing list (Vegetable Friends), I know next to nothing about Robyn Hitchcock. I've always subscribed to VF for the Syd content and pretty much skimmed past anything else. However, when I found out he was playing a gig just down the road from me I just had to get tickets.

Even though I'd never investigated his stuff before, I just knew that from the people he's been compared to (and the kind of people who are into him) that I'd enjoy him.

I'm glad I went because I was right. The venue, although smallish (~300 capacity) was packed out and Robyn seemed to be lifted by the audience's enthusiasm - it was a very warm, engaging performance. I especially enjoyed the wonderfully surreal ramblings between the songs that all made perfect sense in an Eddie Izzard sort of way. The name checks for his previous Leeds shows (F Club 1978 and Futurama 1980 fact fans) went down especially well, as did all the stuff about the relationship between Leeds and its rival cities York and Manchester. That's not to take anything away from the music though, all of which was hugely enjoyable. I don't know whether it was mainly old or new stuff but it all hung together very well. Not knowing the songs means that I couldn't tell you what the setlist was, but ones that stick in my mind include Museum of Sex, Sounds Great When You're Dead, Goodnight Oslo and probably quite a few more, all illuminated by surreal introductory quips.

So there you go. Teriffic stuff, and definitely someone I'll be investigating more in the future.
--Mark S.