Subject: Roger roger, over over.....

I'm shooting a cybergun into the dark of night here....hope I'm still hooked into the list after the great energy bolt from the sky....

Robyn at Sea was a beautiful concert.....at one point Robyn saw a calm patch of water ahead of the boat and told a story about the many suckered sea creature that lived there and had pulled a poor sod under the water--to quote Robyn: "every few minutes a pair of nostrils pokes through the surface and desperately gasps for air, BUT DOES THAT SAVE OUR HAPLESS VICTIM?" and stared meaningfully at those of us in the audience, at which point we shouted "NO!!" Robyn politely said "Thank you!"

Hearing Robyn play "Bass" on a boat was also a treat.

By the way....does anybody else love "1974" as much as I do? I saw him

play in Cambridge the week after Robyn at Sea and he played it there too.

Robyn said his next album would be a live album that would coincide with the release of "Storefront Hitchcock" and that he would tour the U.S. again at that time---can't wait!

Buckeye

At Brockenhurst, it was a beautiful hot day and the New Forest ponies were hiding in the shade, swishing their tails to keep the flies off. Arriving by train in Lymington, I walked past the so-called 'Harbourmaster's Pier' four times, studying the map closely each time, before I convinced myself that this small gangplank and platform must indeed be it. I saw a bloke in a 'Mrs Wafflehead' T-shirt looking equally lost and never saw him again for the rest of the day...

Eventually a recognisable group of fegs began to cluster in a bunch, then Robyn and Michelle got out of a car and everyone started to look for the boat. When the 'Island Rose' (?) finally appeared, Robyn said 'Is that it? We'll never get 60 people on there" I said (would-be wittily) "No trouble, 30 on the top deck and 30 on the bottom". He looked at me completely seriously and said "Is it your boat, then?". "No" I replied, abashed. I didn't speak to him again until the end of the trip. However, there turned out to be plenty of room for the 82 people who turned up - which unfortunately didn't include Tim Keegan (as Gary mentioned). Robyn was looking for his mother: "Have you seen a little white-haired geezer, with a smile and nice eyes?" he was asking.

The boat set sail at about 1720 hours, heading for Yarmouth Pier. I went up to the top deck, and Robyn and Jake played on the bottom deck.

During "I dream of antwoman" Robyn got everyone singing along on a chorus of 'being just contaminates the void'; I hadn't previously realised that this was a singalong number. Then they played 'Oceanside' and 'Alright Yeah' arriving at Yarmouth during the final bars.

We were deafened as we got off the boat by a rock band at the Yacht Club belting out 'Johnny B Goode'. Then we trudged up to the old railway station in the evening sunlight, avoiding eye-contact with the natives as instructed by Robyn. The locals teemed through the great boulevards of Yarmouth, carousing and celebrating carnival day.

Robyn played an excellent set at the station:

Gene Hackman

Cheese Alarm

(then with Jake)

De Chirico Street

Devil's Radio

Queen of Eyes

Jewels for Sophia

Heliotrope

There were a couple of mildly surreal interruptions when the Sea Scout troop came marching through, and when a large family accompanied by three border collies came to inspect the proceedings. Robyn was devastated to see a burglar alarm installed on the scout hut: "A burglar alarm in the West Wight!"

Back to the boat, aiming to get on board in time to see the sunset. The carnival crowd was by now crazed on rum truffles and candy floss, and many a nervous feg picked up his / her feet anxiously, keen to escape from the increasingly ugly murmurings of the canaille.

On the long return trip via the Needles, I sat downstairs and Robyn and Jake played upstairs. I can't give a complete setlist as I was in the bar for some of the time, but it included 'Beautiful Queen', 'Feels like 1974''Viva Sea-tac' 'All Shook Up' 'Mystery Train' (complete with Robbie Robertson interlude bits) 'Bass' and 'Clean Steve'. There was a interesting interlude when Robyn spotted a suspiciously calm patch of water, and saw a nameless tentacled denizen of the deep pulling down a swimmer who (despite coming up gasping for breath) was ultimately dragged to a watery grave. I didn't see this myself, but Robyn was pretty definite about it.

At the end people were thanking Robyn for the trip, so I showed him a newspaper article on killer whales playing frisbee with stingrays. "The human race has got a lot to answer for" he replied, convinced that the whales had got the idea off TV (I told you this already).

Tired but happy, I got back into Lymington, in plenty of time to miss the last train back to Bath. I had to get a cab from Westbury, which cost twenty quid - but it was worth it!

Subject: Re: More Robyn at Sea please! (fwd)

>There was an

>interesting interlude when Robyn spotted a suspiciously calm patch of

>water, and saw a nameless tentacled denizen of the deep pulling down a

>swimmer who (despite coming up gasping for breath) was ultimately dragged

>to a watery grave.

Ah, so he played the Tentacles card again, eh? <sigh>

Otherwise, sounds like a neat show.