Gig Report - Robyn Hitchcock (& Peter Buck) @ the Rescue Rooms

Last night went to see Robyn Hitchcock at the Rescue Rooms. Didn't know anything about him (I'd heard of him of course, but nothing by him).

Absolutely blown away. Fantastic, harmonious, janglesome pop nuggets. Peter Buck from REM guesting on guitar (not bass) and doing that byrdsy, jangly ricckenbacker thing. Pretty cool having rock royalty play a teeny venue like the Rescue Rooms.

Can anyone recommend any of Hitchcock's work. I feel the urge to investigate.

 

The drummer Bill Rieflin and bass player Scott McCaughey are also current members of the REM live band. McCaughey is usually rhythm guitarist for REM.

Am probably going to check them out at the art centre on Friday night, should be good.

 

Don't think you'll be disappointed, we certainly weren't.

Didn't realise about the other two. So basically we got to see three fifths of the REM live band for 12 quid in a small club venue ... bargain

 

wow..! I was a fan of them on the late 80's after hearing him on john peel - tho, I wasn't able to buy his stuff at the time due to lack of funds...I do recall one track i taped (and still have from about '87) that starts off with the line "someone's getting away with murder..."

dunno if anyone knows that one!

edit - just an update to say at during this period he played with a supprt band called the egyptians - thu, being called robyn hitchcock and the Egyptians....

 

Hi

Robyn Hitchcock has a huge back catalogue, and it varies quite a lot in style. My personal favourites are the solo acoustic albums, especially Eye and I Often Dream of Trains. There's a very interesting recent collaboration with Gillian Welch/David Rawlings called Spooked. Of the ...and The Egyptians stuff I like Element of Light, but its quite hard to get the moment I think. Fans also rate Fegmania but I don't know it. There's an excellent concert DVD (and CD) called Storefront Hitchcock - directed by Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense). (Hitchcock had a small part in Demme's recent remake of the Manchurian Candidate.)

He's one of the greatest under-rated madcap genius figures of English popular music, and has fabulous hair!

Cheers

Gordon

 

Cheers for that Gordon, I will start keeping my eye out. Saturday's gig was very much in that jangly powerpop with an undercurrent of new wave type of vein. A bit Teenage Fanclub if you know what I mean - What sort of other stuff does he do?

 

talking of retro stuff - I've just oredered some stuff by the Blue Aeroplanes - Friendloverplane

got this on vinyl too...will order swagger in due course...I was playing one of their live cd last night and forgot how good they were...anyone else know them?

 

Never owned any of their stuff, but saw them play support to REM back in the late 80s (Green tour I should think). rather good I thought, but funds limited.

 

Well, it varies a lot - some of his solo stuff is quite dark and sombre, a lot is quirky and comical/twisted, some is just downright strange, some works & some doesn't. It can be a bit folk-y or a bit poppy, usually with prominent and interesting acoustic guitar well to the fore. A lot of songs seem to be about insects, death and decay, fruit and vegetables, and the vagaries of real (i.e. strange) people and relationships. If you can imagine a kind of John Lennon/Vivian Stanshall/Sid Barrett mix, but with post new wave sensibilities thrown in...

Does that help?

Cheers

Gordon

 

Robyn and The Minus 3 were excellent at the Art Centre last night. One of the best shows I've seen in a long time, excellent band and some great material. Peter Buck's playing on that Rickenbacker was exemplary. Highlights for me were I Wanna Destroy You, Sally Was A Legend, Television and a blistering run through the Byrds' Eight Miles High.

At various times the band members switched duties, Pete Buck taking his turn on bass and drums, Bill Rieflin coming forward to play bass on a couple of numbers too.

I picked up The Minus 5's CD after the show, very Byrds influenced rock, good recording and some excellent material on there too.