Robyn Hitchcock

anyone going to this tonight at the Black Cat? There's one opener, doors at 8:30, so I'm assuming a 10:00 p.m. start?

I have to play it by ear, have lots to get done before I can go….

I think so.
Still pretty crispy from SXSW but I do adore Robyn and missed all 5 of his SXSW shows.

d'oh! I forgot about that… that actually sounds worth a pop by. I saw him at Iota a couple of years back, at a show which almost nobody was at, and he sounded awesome.

I'll be there…

How was it? I got caught up in real estate emergencies…

missed it :(

Originally posted by Bags:
How was it?

ditto…I was caught at the Aqualung/Devlins show…

Hitchcock, Unsettling as Always
Thursday, March 24, 2005; Page C07


The Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein wrote: "Everything's either concave or -vex, so whatever you dream will be something with sex." It's an observation that would sit well with Robyn Hitchcock, that British bard of birth, death and all the messy, freaky stuff in between.

"Seventy-eight percent of my songs are about the shock of existence," Hitchcock declared Tuesday at the Rams Head, amid a series of songs whose arcane and sometimes disturbing imagery suggested the contents of a moldy book found on a high shelf of a restricted section of the campus library. "Creeped Out" and "English Girl," from his recent CD "Spooked," presented a repressed American girl and a witheringly unkind British one, respectively. "Victorian Squid," an upright tune about an uptight society, portrayed a time when carnal pleasure, as Hitchcock noted drolly, was restricted to "fairly wealthy white men with good urologists." And the spectacularly weird "Ole Tarantula" combined cowboy motifs with sexual puns and the creepy image of that leggy beast.


Woven all around the naughty bits was Hitchcock's guitar playing, lush, rhythmic and often blushing with psychedelia. He was acoustic for two-thirds of the set and electric for the last third, and for an encore, after quipping, "Many years ago, before there were PA systems, singers walked among you," he did just that, strolling among the tables while delivering a medley of slightly Hitched-up '70s hits (his version of "Kung Fu Fighting" included the couplet, "It's an ancient Chinese art / Like the British playing darts"). Seems there's a romantic under all that eccentric decadence, albeit one who, when presented with flowers, sniffed them, said, "These ones smell really nice," and then held them to the microphone to share.

– Pamela Murray Winters

Originally posted by Bags:
How was it? I got caught up in real estate emergencies…

Does that mean you're closer to finalizing something?

I went…first time seeing him. I don't have any albums and only know him from the Soft Boys and that single that HFS kept playing in the early '90s (so you think you're in luuuuuve……). He was great! Really good sound, "witty" lyrics and fun chatter between the songs. He is an EXCELLENT guitar player. Really interesting chords and all over the fretboard.

Meredith Bragg was like Ida with Ben Gibbard singing.

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:

Originally posted by Bags:
How was it? I got caught up in real estate emergencies…

Does that mean you're closer to finalizing something?

Yup, it's between two places – newly renovated in Columbia Heights or older but with my own terrace in Dupont East. Definitely count on forum happy hours on my terrace if I go with the place on 15th Street (two blocks from Black Cat, not bad, eh?).

I've seen Robin quite a few times over the last 20 years or so and I kinda dig his new disc,woulda like to check this out. How big was the crowd? Last time I saw him was with Grant Lee Phillips at IOTA…..one of the better shows I've seen around here….

how was it? i was really bummed that they didn't play the birchmere or iota and only settled on ram's head in annapolis for the mid atlantic area.

Originally posted by Winter Pays For Summer:
ditto…I was caught at the Aqualung/Devlins show…

Robyn Hitchcock took the stage at the Black Cat like an elder statesman, his gray hair a badge of honor for his longevity as an underground rock and roll artist. The only other time I have seen Robyn Hitchcock perform is on the Soft Boys reunion tour at the 9:30 Club in March 2001. I was a fan primarily of Robyn's witty lyrics, so I was amazed to discover at that concert in 2001 that Robyn is a superb guitarist as well. Things were no different at this solo concert at the Black Cat. Robyn's fingers flew across the frets as he played chords I suspect most guitarists don't even know exist. As a musician, he is criminally underrated. He played about two thirds of the concert with acoustic guitar, accompanied only with occasional harmonica. The latter third of the concert was primarily electric, though he switched between the two for the encore, which consisted mostly of requests hollered from the audience. The night started off promisingly with a spectacular rendition of "Globe of Frogs" and followed with such old favorites as "Glass Hotel" and "Clean Steve" mixed in with newer material. In between songs, Robyn's banter was just as witty as the lyrics of his songs. For those unfamiliar with Robyn Hitchcock, I definitely recommend checking out Eye, my favorite album of his.

Opening act: Singer/songwriter/folk musician Meredith Bragg played guitar and sang while accompanied by his assistant on cello. He was pretty good and set the proper mood for Robyn Hitchcock's performance.

Originally posted by Jonas Grumby:
I've seen Robin quite a few times over the last 20 years or so and I kinda dig his new disc,woulda like to check this out. How big was the crowd? Last time I saw him was with Grant Lee Phillips at IOTA…..one of the better shows I've seen around here….

It wasn't a sell out, but it definitely wasn't sparse either. I'd guess maybe two-thirds capacity? Not bad for a Wednesday night at the Black Cat, I think.

I wonder if Robyn looked for another guy with a girls name to open for him…