My review of Robyn's gig at The Portland Arms, Cambridge, England.
The gig was part of two shows back to back at the venue. Friday was billed as Robyn solo and Sunday 'Robyn with full band'. However. Most of the numbers were played with Robyn's support band, who were also the support act. The support act were billed as 'Kim and Lee' and the band consisted Kimberley Rew on guitar and vocals, his wife Lee Cave Berry on bass and vocals, and Morris Windsor on drums and vocals. They ended their set with 'Walking on Sunshine' which was an international hit for one of Kim's old bands, Cambridge based Katrina and The Waves in 1985.
The backstage room at the venue was unusually upstairs via a wooden staircase, leading from the main body of the audience. Robyn was backed throughout his gig by some, and then all of the 'Kim and Lee' members played the rest of the show. It was tricky for band members to navigate through the crowd in the small, compact venue. Before Robyn entered the stage, he worked his way through the audience and tapped a man on the shoulder near the front row to get past. The man turned around sharply looking frustrated, before realising it was Robyn, he smiled broadly.
Robyn started his set with a long and typically humourous preamble, saying 'welcome to The Portland Arms, Cambridge, England'! He went on to explain 'Fifty years ago this was a folk club, and people would have imagined how it is now, exactly like it is, only apart from the cell phones'.
Robyn started the set as he has done at gigs of late with the haunting 'September Cones' from 1995's 'You & Oblivion' album. It occured to me during the song that we are now in fact in the month of September! The next number was ’1974' where Robyn replaced the usual last line 'Grimsby' with 'Wisbech' a nearby small town in Cambridgeshire. He later made a disparging remark about Wisbech. The next song was 'The Secret Life of a Scorpio'. Robyn explained that he wrote the song during covid and sent a demo of it to Johnny Marr. Robyn told us that Marr returned the recording to him with 'loads of overdubs on it. Marr himself is a Scorpio and Robyn listed an eclectic mix of other famous Scorpios, including Neil Young, Condoleezza Rice, and Gram Parsons. The wonderful 'Glass Hotel' followed before Morris Windsor joined Robyn to sing backing vocals on 'Trams of Old London'. It was a great version and it reminded me of when I saw an equally good version of the song in London when Robyn's niece Ruby Wright joined him to sang backing vocals.
Before playing 'Kingdom of Love's Robyn asked the soundman to turn the air con back on because 'it is very hot and it's growing my inner tomato' Robyn went on to tell a story about an ex-girlfriend of his who's mother cut her finger with a knife whilst making a tomato sandwich. A few weeks laer, she went to hospital as she was in pain with the finger. Doctor's opened her wound and found a tomato seed growing in her finger! Curiously 'Kingdom of Love's' lyrics refer to 'laying eggs under my skin'.
'Brenda's Iron Sledge' was dedicated to Lancastrian Radio DJ Andy Kershaw, and the song received the biggest applause of the night.
During the encore Robyn played a series of covers explaining that he is releasing a forthcoming album of covers entitled '1967’ which is a companion to the book of the same name he has recently published. I particularly enjoyed the Small Faces 'Itchycoo Park' as I'm a big fan of the band. The song brought back memories for me as it's about Valentine's Park in Ilford, Essex, where I lived for a couple of years.
I wasn't sure about the third encore cover? It was possibly a Syd Barrett cover as Robyn quipped about him before the song started.
September Cones
1974
The Secret Life of a Scorpio
Glass Hotel
Trams of Old London (Morris Windsor on backing vocals)
I Often Dream of Trains (with Morris Windsor and Kimberley Rew)
(Lee Cave Berry then joined the others for the rest of the set. There was no intermission).
Kingdom of Love
Madonna of the Wasps
The Shuffle Man
Birds in Perspex
The Sir Tommy Shovel
Sudden Town
Sally was a Legend
Queen of Eyes
Brenda's Iron Sledge
I Wanna Destroy You
Airscape
Encore:
Ichycoo Park (Small Faces)
Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks)
Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd)
Lucifer Sam (Syd Barrett)
And Your Bird Can Sing (The Beatles)
Rain (The Beatles)

Matt E