Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
Bell House, 6.11.09
Anytime you're in the presence of a legend, a special feeling takes hold of you.
The first music icon I ever saw perform was Paul Westerberg. Performing solo acoustic at Virgin Megastore, the former Replacements frontman could do no wrong, even if he forgot the words to a few of his own songs. The man wrote "Unsatisfied" for God's sake.
On Thursday night at Bell House, I stood only inches from a stage upon which stood Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows), and Bill Rieflin (Ministry), as they performed as Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3. Everyone in America knows Peter Buck from his work as guitarist for REM, but the night was about Hitchcock, who has not gotten enough respect for his influence as a songwriter both solo and with the Soft Boys.
That said, Bell House was packed full of true fans, who seemed totally in tune with his entire prolific catalog from "Black Snake Diamond Role" to the brand new "Goodnight Oslo." On Wednesday, the band played the far larger Radio City Music Hall as opener for The Decemberists, so the much more intimate setting of Bell House, along with the role as headliner gave longtime fans a much better setting to experience the legendary songwriter.
The long set, full of classics including a 1-2 punch of "Vibrating" and "Flesh Number 1" resulted in 2 encores for which Robyn Hitchcock were joined by Ken Stringfellow (Posies). Fans were given a really special treat with covers of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" and The Doors' "Roadhouse Blues."
Throughout the set Hitchcock told us humorously abstract stories as
lead ins into his songs. And despite their experience and technical
skills, the band even showed a little flawed humanity when Peter Buck
accidentally began playing the intro for the wrong song. Even the best
of us make mistakes.
If you failed to make it, you also missed such gems as "Adventure Rocket Ship," "Television," "Brenda's Iron Sledge," and "Up To Our Nex."
