| Reports from the 12 bar.
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Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998
From: "Matthew Knights"
Subject: See Kimberley Play
Robyn wore the salamander shirt for the final 12Bar show last night.
If anyone taped the show I'd welcome an e-mail off list as I would really
enjoy listening to it again. I felt last night's show was the perfect Robyn
gig. As an old 'Softie' the biggest thrill was seeing Robyn and Kimberley
head off into the night after their soundcheck, presumably for an evening
meal somewhere and anticipating seeing Kimberley play for the first time
since 1981. (Incidentally, I can't imagine R&K dining at McDonalds
- I wonder where would they go to eat out?)
Suzy Hug jumped on stage about 9pm and charmed and entertained the
neutral crowd, silencing the noisy element with a few intelligent words
before her set began. Jake from Homer backed her up on guitar. By the final
song she had won over the whole audience with a very good support act.
As she left the room I spotted Kimberley standing by the door congratulating
her.
Big R took the stage about 10.15pm with Lets Go Thundering and followed
this with 52 Stations, Cheese Alarm, Trilobyte, that Furs song (News of
the Day?) and others before switching to Telecaster. Robyn filled his set
with plenty of stream of conciousness ad libbing chat. Kimberley joined
in for the last 20 minutes and they played Queen of Eyes, Face of Death
and - my absolute favourite - Insanely Jealous ( I felt smug at this point
having shouted out "How about IJ!" a little earlier). They played Waterloo
Sunset as an encore. Robyn enjoyed himself and left the stage with a cheerful"See
you in July".
Mattrom: woj <woj@smoe.org>
>Subject: a note from Robyn
>got the following from antwoman this evening: Robyn has asked if
this message from him can be 'circulated'
>>Apologies ofr the mouldy gig at the 12 Bar. The people upstairs
wouldn't shut up, so I shut down. Normal service will be resumed ASAP.
Love, Robyn
>anyone who was at the 12-bar care to explain?
I wasn't at the gig, but I know Robyn's gripe, and it seems to be
common at the 12 Bar. The 12 Bar is a TINY place. If you took a two-car
garage, and slapped a balcony in the top, stuffed a stage in one corner,
and a soundboard in a closet where the water heater should go, you've got
an idea of the 12 Bar. The stage area is actually high enough that the
performers are looking at eye level with the people seated at the tables
in the balcony (especially a tall guy like Robyn). Put fifty people in
there and it's crowded. Put 150 people in there and it's jammed. The sound
of people having ordinary conversation becomes a roar. When I went to see
Robyn and Tim at the 12 Bar in August last year, Robyn came out onstage
before Tim's set with a tin of tomatoes, and made the announcement that
he was holding a tin of tomatoes and he didn't know why,but he did know
that Tim was coming out on stage followed by himself. Thclub is small,
and the shows are acoustic, and both he and Tim could hear all the conversation
everyone else is making during the show, so please keep it down cos it
blows their concentration. If the audience members couldn't be considerate
enough to keep it down during the songs, then they'd stop until the audience
got the talking out of their system. We did. Great show.
Look after yerselves...Doc
: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 11:16:05 -0000
From: "Matthew Knights" <mknights@harrywasp.prestel.co.uk>
Subject: Re: a note from Robyn
Robyn gave a strong performance and the talking from upstairs was
only a problem in the first part of his set. I was downstairs and the talking
from upstairs was loud, intrusive and persistent. Curiously, the noisy
ones were quiet during the Homer support set but came to life as soon as
Big R appeared. I couldn't see them but they sounded like media types -
don't ask me to explain, I love my prejudices - and they conversed in avery
animated way, over the music, as though they were at a party.
Naturally, Robyn was doing his acoustic stuff first and his poor
Martin couldn't compete. He completely lost it somewhere around his third
song saying "You'll find it much more comfortable outside, the people down
here have bought tickets you know, this isn't a Rock venue. This is FOLK
music". Robyn was dour and fierce and I could sense suppressed rage. He
responded by firing off his songs in quick succession without any ad-libbing
or stories at all. His plea for silence had no immediate effect but the
talking did diminish a while later. When it came to the electric section,he
really cranked up the amp volume, using the power of the telecaster to
enforce silence on the audience. In my opinion, no apology is necessary
as Robyn's performance was solid and professional.
Matt
There was a busload of folks there from Not Europe, whowere more
concerned with impressing each other than listening to music (or allowing
others to do so). I suspect that most of them were more used to conducting
conversation over several hundred yards of cornfield rather than several
inches of echoey London club.
Despite a perfectly polite and reasonable request from Robyn, the
chatter continued, hence one of his more perfunctory performances. Not
that the chattering ghastlies would have noticed.
Setlist something like:
JT
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