The Bryn Mawr-Haverford College News
by Jeff Masek - Staff writer
In one of the most popular concerts in recent memory, Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians delivered a good, if somewhat lifeless, performance in Founders Hall last Saturday.
Hitchcock's set began ignominiously with an electronics foul-up involving the guitar and bass. True to form, Hitchcock managed to turn the situation around with an ad-libbed recitation covering the problem, and the pros and cons of giving away his guitar.
After the problem was solved, the band launched into a mixture of recent, well-known songs, older selections, and selections drawn from Hitchcock's new album Element of Light. The group, consisting of Hitchcock on guitar, Andy Metcalfe on basse (sic), and Morris Windsor on drums, played with a high degree of precision, showing their years of experience. Particularly impressive were "The Man With the Lightbulb Head: and "Brenda's Iron Sledge", both of which featured tight, energetic playing and a degree of improvisation lacking in most of the selections.
The older songs also proved to be exceptionally good in performance. On "I Often Dream of Trains" (the title track to his 1983 LP), Hitchcock simply accompanied himself on guitar, revealing a song of enormous beauty and power. On the other hand, "Uncorrected Personality Disorders," (sic) performed a capella in three-part harmony, illustrated Hitchcock's humor at its most demented.
For the encores the group came alive, with excellent renditions of "Heaven" and "Listening to the Higsons". For the latter, the band members added variety to the proceedings by switching instruments.
Some of the more entertaining moment of the concert occurred during Hitchcock's rambling song introductions. The introduction to "Lady Waters" involved a woman trying to reach the "Shovel Emporium" but, finding herself on a rubber highway, she overshoots it and goes bouncing ingo (sic) West Germany.
Unfortunately, what Hitchcock had in the way of technical precision, he lacked in energy. During the majority of the show, he consistently bore an expression of absolute indifference, which belied his wish to be somewhere else that night. With notable exceptions, Hitchcock stuck closely to the recorded versions of his songs, occasionally slipping in an extra measure of guitar/bass soloing. As a result, the concert never managed to be more than mildly entertaining.
Interestingly enough, the concert attracted a huge number of fans from outside the bi-College community. This was probably the result of the excellent public relations provided by the Alternative Concert Series, the sponsors of the event.
The opening act, They Might Be Giants, proved just how versatile a guitar / rhythm track/accordion polka band can be. For those particularly moved by their music, the album could be purchased from the band members in the lobby.