Venue:
The Greystones, Sheffield
Date: 15/09/2016
The last time I saw Robin in a small venue was about 20 years ago. Twenty five seemingly indifferent people turned up, poignantly he introduced The first Girl I Loved by saying “we played this at Woodstock.”
This time he all but sold out the -admittedly small – venue. First thing I noticed is that he’s lost a lot of weight and is now back to a skinny Wee Tam era profile. With his thinning, still long, white hair and thick glasses on the end of his nose, he now more than ever looks the part of a bard. His voice though, is better than ever. It was always reedy aural Marmite, but the years have put timbre into it, and his efforts at raga style melisma are more restrained,
He kicked off with a couple of unaccompanied harp tunes which included the traditional Pretty Girl Milking a Cow. The set that followed was peppered with distinctive covers that included the expected (Bob Dylan) and the less expected (Foghat and Jerry Lee Lewis). His own songs were all from his more recent solo efforts, including touching versions of Wheel of Fortune and I Always » Continue Reading.