Concert Review: Robyn Hithcock & The Venus 3 at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago · Apr 24, 09:05 PM by Don
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 did not disappoint last Saturday night at Logan Square Auditorium in Chicago. Hitchcock (RH) opened with a solo take on “I Got the Hots for You,” a live staple. He dedicated it to the Obama family. If you’ve been to any Bush-era RH shows, you know he is no fan of Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the cabal. Predictably, the Chicago crowd loved it. Then the Venus 3 came out for a intensely psychedelic version of “I Often Dream of Trains.” I don’t think enough credit is given to RH’s soloing ability. His “Trains” solo was good stuff. During the next song, the funky “What You Is,” RH introduced the Venus 3: Peter Buck from R.E.M., Scott McCaughey from R.E.M., and Bill Rieflin from, uh, R.E.M. The latter two are actually from the touring model of R.E.M., but they’ve been around awhile: McCaughey since 1994 and Rieflin since 2005. Part of me still misses Bill Berry, but it’s tough to deny that Rieflin isn’t a strong replacement. He’s a boon to the Venus 3 as well. His drum breakdown, the backdrop for RH’s introductions, served as a preview for the night of crack drumming to come.
Next up was “Brenda’s Iron Sledge.” Despite the funny line, “Please don’t call me Reg/It’s not my name,” it is not a favorite of mine. Someone yelled for “Rock ‘n’ Roll Toilet,” but “Out of the Picture” was what they got. RH introduced “The Lizard” with a monologue that began with him saying, “I should explain about dead people.” He then pontificated on the jet lag one endures after being reincarnated. “The Lizard” is not a song I normally gravitate to, but tonight it was great, dreamily slow and grand. Again, Rieflin’s drum star shone bright. RH also pulled out another killer solo.
The bouncy “Saturday Groovers,” from the new album Goodnight Oslo, was appropriate, as it was Saturday. For “Television,” Buck sat down to play guitar while Rieflin came to the front to work his shaker and harmonize with RH and McCaughey. “Vibrating” benefitted from a new, more rockin’ arrangement and was followed by “Only the Stones Remain.” RH introduced “Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)” by saying, “This is dedicated to 1988.” Near the end, he snuck in a few lines from “More Than This” by Roxy Music. Two more Goodnight songs were next: “Hurry for the Sky” and an unexpectedly rockin’ “Falling.” Yes, that’s the second time I’ve used the word rockin’ in this paragraph, but it’s hard not too because of the Venus 3. They have energized RH, giving him a solid, muscular foundation for his songs.
RH took another dig at Bush and announced a “plunge into erotic psychosis” before “Creeped Out American Girl.” A long, slow intro gave way to “Madonna of the Wasps.” This was on the only song that could be described as sloppy, though not egregiously so. RH took a moment to describe his music as “mutant Bo Diddley,” then dedicated “Up to Our Nex,” from the new album and soundtrack to the movie, Rachel Getting Married, to “Annie” Hathaway. Moonlighting as her publicist, he shared that she’ll be doing Shakespeare in Central Park this summer. RH dedicated “Beautiful Queen” to Michele, his girlfriend?wife? by saying, “This is for Michele, including my dancing.” The V3’s rock muscles came into play again, as the song was surprisingly forceful. After a dreamy intro, Rieflin kicked the song into high gear. “Queen” also featured another prime solo from RH.
For the encore, RH and Buck came out to play “Birdshead.” I hadn’t heard the song in quite a while, and it’s still in my head as I type this five days later. The rest of the V3 came out to play “Kingdom of Love,” which I actually thought was “Rockin’ in the Free World” by Neil Young until RH started singing. I don’t normally associated RH with Crazy Horse grit, but it definitely worked for this song, which RH introduced by saying, “This introduction needs no song, but we’ll do it anyway.” The night ended, fittingly, with “Goodnight Oslo.”
Set List: I Got the Hots for You / I Often Dream of Trains / What You Is / Brenda’s Iron Sledge / Out of the Picture / The Lizard / Saturday Groovers / Television / Vibrating / Only the Stones Remain / Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis) / Hurry for the Sky / Falling / Creeped Out American Girl / Madonna of the Wasps / Up to Our Nex / Beautiful Queen / Encore: Birdshead / Kingdom of Love / Goodnight Oslo
mp3: Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 – Vibrating :: live at the Cat’s Cradle on April 8, 2009
Click to hear the entire Cat’s Cradle show at the Internet Archive’s Live Music Archive.
P.S. The merch table featured not only the requisite CDs (and some vinyl, I think), but lime green traffic cones decorated by Hitchcock. One read, “Enigma of the Lonesome Black Cones.” That is all.
Photo Credit: The photo above was taken by Robert Loerzel, but I doctored it a bit. To see that photo in its original glory, as well as several other great shots from Saturday night’s show, click here.
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Songs in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 format are offered for a limited time only. Songs that are no longer downloadable can be streamed at the Timedoor page at Hype Machine. Dead mp3 links take you to the top of the blog.
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