Robyn Hitchcock Milestones Rochester, N.Y. March 7, 1997 * new 2014 transfer * Source: audience recording, likely made on a Sony D6 by "Lobstie" Lineage: cassette received in trade circa May 1997 (likely 1st or 2nd gen.) > recorded to hard drive in November 2014 > tracks split using Cool Edit (no other processing) > FLAC using Trader's Little Helper > you! Sound quality: A- / A Track list: 1. intro. banter 2. Devil's Radio 3. banter 4. DeChirico Street 5. banter 6. Madonna of the Wasps 7. banter 8. Balloon Man 9. banter 10. 1974 11. banter 12. I'm Only You 13. banter 14. My Wife & My Dead Wife 15. Daisy Bomb (with backing vocals by opening act The Dear Janes) 16. banter 17. I Something You 18. I Am Not Me 19. The End (The Doors cover) 20. banter 21. You and Oblivion 22. Banter 23. Airscape 24. Freeze 25. crowd noise 26. Only the Stones Remain 27. banter 28. Queen of Eyes 29. I Often Dream of Trains 30. banter 31. Listening to the Higsons 32. The Speed of Things 33. banter 34. My Favourite Buildings 35. banter 36. Heliotrope 37. outro banter (cut short) Notes: Despite being a Robyn Hitchcock fan since his mid-80s Egyptians heyday, this was the only time that I've had the pleasure to see him perform live. As "Lobstie" states in his review (see below), this is best described as a "Robyn Hitchcock 101" show. Truly, the entire show is comprised of singles, fan-favorite album cuts, and just enough in the way of minor oddities that the hardcore fans probably walked away happy. "Lobstie" certainly did, as he wrote that this was the best R.H. solo gig he'd ever attended. I received this recording in an old-fashioned snail-mail cassette trade within a month or two of the show, so I'm sure that it's a low-generation lossless recording. My best recollection is that it came from a trader somewhere in New England, but I'm not positive if I traded with the taper or not. There was a small crowd in attendance for this show (probably 150-200 people), and I'm guessing that there was only a single taper in the audience. With that in mind, I'm provisionally crediting "Lobstie" with this recording, as he notes that he had made a good recording of the show with his Sony D6. Please enjoy Lobstie's excellent review of the show, taken from the R.H. fan site "The Glass Hotel". I think that what originally was intended to be a "Robyn Hitchcock 101 Primer" gig for the uninformed (Robyn has never, to my knowledge, played in Rochester before) ended up being a great experience where the audience surprised him and met him halfway. The cones: About 25 of them when I walked in (I was the first to buy a cone), only one left when i exited the building. The clothes: Robyn wore a white shirt with black vest. Encore was the white shirt with black polka dots. The guitar: The blue telecaster was utilized. Note: This was the first gig to feature the red lightbulb. Tell your grandkids. The red lightbulb screwed into the top of the green cone. It was rapturous. The set: Easily 100min, maybe closer to 105.somewhere in the electric portion, Robyn started playing the chords for "Went To See The Gypsy" by Dylan. It was just a tease tho, as he stopped and switched to something more familiar. The show started and ended with readings/ad-libs from the anthology "Great Stories of Mystery and Suspense". Like I said before, it started out as a routine "Here's some of my hits" gig. But the audience really responded----- singing along to "Balloon" and "Madonna", whooping during every guitar solo, dancing during some of the later stuff, yelling out "We love you Robyn" after every song in the encore. You could tell that Robyn was affected, and that the crowd was too--there was very little talking (from the crowd i mean), even during the longer stories. Thanks be to god for the Dear Janes, who got Robyn to play "Daisy Bomb". I desperately wanted to hear something new. Dear Janes continue a tradition of fine opening bands for Robyn. I liked their stuff. I really liked their sound (a big upright bass, an acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar.) That's all. its 3:45am. but i am buzzed on road caffeine, and gig vibes and knew i must pound this out now, and then sleep. I taped the show with my recently repaired Sony D6, I listened to bits here and there, and it sounds very good. trades later?? Hope you enjoyed this review. Please keep those reviews coming. I've REALLY enjoyed reading the ones so far. I want Knitting Factory epistles from every one of you! :) ps. this was the best robyn solo gig i've ever been to. -- Lobstie App\Http\Controllers\Api\FileDownloadController::download(): Return value must be of type string, none returned