Lucas Rennie opened

My review of Robyn's Gig Tonight at Claypath Deli, Durham, Co. Durham, England
The venue was a tiny delicatessen just off the main drag in Durham City, County Durham North East England. About fifty people attended, which was probably full capacity. Seating was available for half of the audience. I was slightly nervous about the delicatessen being used as a live music venue. Especially having seen some YouTube clips of gigs held there. I feared that attendees would witness a strange southern bloke performing in a cramped space, with eager punters caring only about being served with their lattes, focaccia or sourdough. Thankfully, my notion proved completely inaccurate and unfounded! The venue is a lovely intimate space to host gigs. Although, freshly baked grub was available! The audience was formed by a mixture of local regulars and staunch fans, and I saw a couple of men dressed in Robyn Hitchcock T-Shirts. It was the first gig that Robyn played since the tragic death of his daughter last Wednesday.
The support act was Lucas Renney. He played a very enjoyable solo acoustic set. It was an incredibly quiet set of reflective arpeggio driven songs, which I imagine would appeal to a Robyn Hitchcock audience. Lucas is a local singer songwriter who informed us that he recently received plaudits on the radio from local born BBC indie music DJ Lauren Laverne, and legendary BBC Lancastrian DJ Mark Radcliffe.
Setlist:
Cynthia Mask
Raymond Chandler Evening
The Shuffleman
Tonight
I Often Dream of Trains
(New Song) Chorus 'Got my wallet and my brain and my kidneys and I've got my resonator' [Resonator]
(New Song) main lyric 'You know that I love you if you need it'
Madonna of The Wasps
The Cheese Alarm
Goodnight Oslo
Saturday Groovers
The Man Who Loves the Rain
(New Song) main lyric 'Don't let the devil see you' [Don’t Let The Devil See You Cry]
The Yip! Song
Raymond And The Wires
Oceanside
So You Think You're In Love

A selection of Robyn's on stage banter:
I have no merch available here, so you have more money for wine or pizzas. In fact, I've made more records than I've had pizzas, which is my claim to fame.

I've enjoyed playing this venue. I'm playing here tomorrow, and I feel that I want to play a whole string of dates here, but I would be based in Jesmond and would travel in via a 1957 Green Bentley.

'The Shuffleman' song is based on a descendant from a ritual who is from Berwick-Upon-Tweed. The ritual descended as far away as North Shields but was occasionally seen in Darlington.

Upon loosening his shirt cuff on stage: 'Buttons are a safety valve, and they prevent us from public nudity. The intermediate fiend invented the button, but then he went away'.

Before playing 'Goodnight Oslo'
'We are not far from Oslo. Technically we are still in Danelaw, so technically we can buy things in Krone.
The song is about an all night party in Oslo, and it's the last thing that happened to me.'
Matt E


Having found Robyn looking lost on our way to the venue, we escorted him there and were rewarded with the sound check, which consisted of the above mentioned unrecorded songs. When he’d finished, the venue produced a freshly baked pizza for Robyn which looked to contain plenty of cheese and no doubt helped him to deliver one of the best shows we’ve seen from him across a variety of UK venues

Stewart D