- Date
- September 05, 1996
- Venue
-
The Roadhouse
Manchester, England
- Billed As
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Gig Type
- Concert
- Guests
- Homer
Recordings of this show exist from two different sources. In one, the song "Beautiful Girl" is cut (see below review). In the other, it is intact.
The night started off with another excellent set from Homer, I prefer the fully equipped version to the minimalist drumless version seen at the 12-Bar.
This was the best performance I've ever seen from Robyn. He was really into it and played several classics as well as a couple of extended monologues.
It began in the same way as the recent 12-Bar gigs with Robyn playing solo acoustic. He started with ANTWOMAN, the only completely new song in the set. Not much melody to my ears, but perhaps it will grow on me. Then onto DE CHIRICO ST. 'This is one Hendrix wrote before he even died. He was that prolific' and into THE WIND CRIES MARY. 'This is the song missing from Frank Sinatra's duets album' followed by a bit of a monologue then, to my surprise, MY WIFE AND MY DEAD WIFE then straight into BEAUTIFUL GIRL.
Around this time my wife fainted due to a combination of the heat and having donated a pint of blood a few hours earlier, so I was a little distracted at this point.
Robyn switched here to his electric guitar and into I AM NOT ME. He then introduced the members of Homer to the audience and they launched into a selection of Robyn's greatest works. First we had ACID BIRD then THE CARS SHE USED TO DRIVE.
I've never seen Robyn with the Egyptians, only heard various live stuff eg GTLTHO, so I don't know how well it would compare but at the time it seemed very good. It makes a change for me to see Robyn with bass and drums behind him.
'This may be released as a single. It's one of the most normal things I've ever heard let alone written.' and a monologue about roast potatoes into ALRIGHT, YEAH straight into BEAUTIFUL QUEEN followed by IF YOU WERE A PRIEST.
At this point Robyn got fed up with his amp and switched back to the acoustic. Still with Homer into QUEEN OF EYES (definitely Mucky :-) ). The last song in the main set was OCEANSIDE.
After a short interval back came Robyn solo and acoustic and played HEAVEN then an extended version of I GOT A MESSAGE FOR YOU. Back came Homer and we had THE DEVIL'S RADIO and the evening was finished off with a song that I am completely at a loss to identify. A blues song, not one of Robyn's I think, lyrics included 'I ride on the mail train baby.....' 'I've been up all night leaning on the windowsill, well' 'and if I die on top of a hill, Lord if I don't make it you know my baby will.' That must be enough for someone to be able to identify it.
I missed the trousers, but the shirts were white and black check with a circular pattern on it and for the encore a yellow shirt with green lizards.
I would heartily recommend anyone who can get to one of the shows with Homer to do so, they really add to Robyn's performance. It's a shame the 12-Bar stage is too small for the drum kit as it makes a big difference.
PS My wife recovered quite quickly.
--
Rob Collingwood