Robyn Hitchcock w/ Emma Swift 3/25/16 Cafe 9

A few months ago, I told everyone with an ear to mark their calendars and buy advance tickets for Robyn Hitchcock. I was shocked when the show was listed as "sold out", a few days later, leaving me on the outside for a show I hyped. One friend bought a ticket, and was listed on will call. We decided to try to weasel entry for two. At the door, we tried our best "who's on first", and were told to wait while the purchase was verified. After a few minutes of blending into the crowd, success. (I'm chalking this up to a karma balance against the unscrupulous but somewhat hapless promoter who has been known to rip off local legends and opener for the Rolling Stones, Sons of Bob, but that's a story for another time). I am certainly glad I gained entry, for RH is a brit folkie psychedelic force of nature. The evening started with Emma Swift, a young Aussie who now resides in Nashville. Her twangy folk songs were nicely delivered, even covering a Lucinda Williams tune. She stepped off and made way for RH. Setlist included "She Was Vibrating", "I Often Dream of Trains", and the beautiful "Ghost in You". While the music was fantastic, the inter-song banter was amazing. Think of Syd Robin Williams Barrett and you're close. At one point, RH launched in to his own radio show program using both mics for different voices. He told the sound man to make him sound like he was playing "two 12 strings....with a delay". At one point, some British mad hatter in the crowd leaned over to point out the RH tour t-shirt depicting a polka-dotted pyramid dreaming of a crab. The evening highlight came when he launched in to "The Cheese Alarm", one of my faves complete with Indian-inflected open tuning raga guitar solo. Another song intro dealt with his fascination with the Clint movie Magnum Force, in which the denouement included a scene where Clint looks at the camera and says "everyone's got to know their limitations, Briggs", which turned out to be the song's refrain. Emma came back on for some duets including an awesome Bowie cover "Sound and Vision", they ended with an expertly delivered "Queen Elvis".