BRIEF ENCOUNTER: Robyn Hitchcock - November 9, 1986

Sunday November 9, 1986 was the first time I saw Robyn Hitchcock in concert. He played at Bogart's and at the time I was already a huge fan of his two most recent albums, Fegmania! and Gotta Let This Hen Out. They were my introduction to his music and to this day those two albums are still my favorites from his vast back catalog. What I did not know at the time was that Robyn was just days away from releasing his brilliant Element of Light LP. He featured many tunes from the as-yet unreleased album during the show, with the clear highlight being "Lady Waters and the Hooded One". This was my first exposure to Robyn's long rambling stories that he likes to tell in between songs. Always off the cuff, totally spontaneous and frequently hilarious, Robyn's between-song banter is often as entertaining as the songs themselves. This track on its own is brilliant. But the spoken intro on this night really put it over top and without fail every time I hear the song I still think of the crazy backstory that Robin regaled us with that evening. This was also the first time I realized what a phenomenal guitarist Robyn is, his fingers giant spiders stalking up and down the guitar neck all while he's singing too. Like a man with two brains. After the show, my date and I met Robyn backstage. Things were a little different back then. Bogart's was still an independent club, years before getting gobbled up and absorbed by a series of corporate owners. Finding no one stationed at the back door, we just walked in. Robyn was talking with a small cadre of fans, but he was bummed out because a silver marker had stained his only pair of black pants. I handed him a Sharpie and suggested he try to cover the stain with black ink. He went to the mirror in the bathroom to give it a shot and it worked like a charm. He was very pleased and thanked me for the suggestion. He was signing autographs but when I asked for a photo he politely declined, saying he didn't like to have his picture taken. I asked him if he would agree to posing for a photo of the back of our heads maybe the next time we meet and he liked that idea. I actually have met Robyn a few more times since that night, but I never took him up on that. Not yet, anyway. Another memory that really stands out from that night was Robyn checking out my girlfriend. As I recall, she was wearing a tight red dress. Maybe he just couldn't help himself. I remember that it didn't really bother me. I thought it was kinda cool.

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Here's a live performance of "Lady Waters and the Hooded One" recorded just two months later: