Venue:
Concorde 2 Brighton
Date: 07/05/2022
The ticket said starts at 7.30pm which turned out to mean Tom will do a couple of acoustic numbers before the support act (Winter of ’79 which lacked the guitar attack of the original and Fifty, from 2013 which I wasn’t familiar with). So far, umm OK. When the 5 piece band took the stage, everything went up several gears and as I had hoped, a run through a Power in the Darkness heavy set followed including Grey Cortina, Up Against the Wall, War Baby, Still Loving You, Too Good To Be True, Martin, 2,4,6,8 Motorway, Glad to be Gay (well, it was Brighton after all) and Power in the Darkness. Some of the lyrics have been updated and Tom wore a Boris wig for the current spoken part in Power in the Darkness. Generally, the songs have worn well and the excellent band managed a pretty faithful reproduction of the sound of the album. Tom seemed a little breathless at times, Grey Cortina particularly was taxing and he said that Still Loving You had changed key as he could no longer reach the high notes.
The audience:
A few grizzled punks and Crusties but comfy shoes were more common than Doc Martens. Mainly over 50s couples out to relive their youth.
It made me think..
A bit worthy? Second division wannabe punk? Dunno but it was a great night and at 71, Tom can still put on an exciting show, so who cares.
davebigpicture says
Nudge….
Skirky says
Did he do the flight case story?
davebigpicture says
He did! I’ve never seen him before but I did wonder if it was wheeled out* every tour.
*pun intended
Gary says
Did he do the bit where Atticus Finch throws a glass and he catches it with his right hand?
davebigpicture says
I may have been at the bar then.
retropath2 says
I always thought him a bit Dadpunk, but he does put on a good show: he was at Shrewsbury Folk a few years back and I was fully prepared to mock, not least as his recent records, nominally a bit folky, were unmitigated shite. But he ran thru all the hits, and very well, playing bass and singing, fair credit also due. I am considering giving him another go, this tour making its way, in due course, to The Hare and Hounds, in Brum.
Twang says
No Danny Kustow I assume. Really tasty player.
davebigpicture says
No, he sadly died in 2019. Apparently, Too Good to be True was his favourite TRB song.
chiz says
I was just up the hill from you at The Rialto. There were a lot of miserable people at this station on the way home, but I think they were Manchester United fans rather than TRB ones.
davebigpicture says
Lots to see around Brighton at the moment: Coal Porters last week, TRB yesterday and Nick Lowe in a couple of weeks. Hen weekends seem to be back in a big way too. Lots of drunk ladies wearing sashes and badly printed t shirts.
dai says
Met him once, he signed an empty record sleeve for me (HMV in Liverpool). Never bought the record. Is he still a DJ?
fentonsteve says
Yep, still a DJ – Sunday evenings on BBC Radio 6 (and possibly others).
Barry Blue says
I was at Concorde2 last night, and loved it. The Martin chant along bits were a true joy. I vaguely recalled that he’d done a cover of Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, but I hadn’t known about the Roxy Music aspect (ie it was an attempt to do Steely Dan meets Roxy), and I thought it worked really well.
TGTBT was and is a cracker, and that and War Baby reminded me of that claustrophobic, dark core to so much of his music (Still Loving You has that, too).
And what the gig really brought home to me, other than that I (still) love living in Brighton, is how homophobic the world I grew up in was. I was 14 when Power In The Darkness came out, and to say you liked TRB at my school resulted in verbal insult at best, and assault at worst. Up Against The Wall, it was reckoned amongst the morons at my alma mater, was a reference to the sexual position favoured by gay men, rather than a storming call to arms.
davebigpicture says
Up Against the Wall was the highlight for me.
Sewer Robot says
That’s what sh—-
*”Oi! You’re nicked!” – sexism police*
duco01 says
Thanks for the review, Mr bigpicture
I’ve never seen Tom Robinson live in concert, but I’d like to.
“Power in the Darkness” and the “Rising Free” EP were full of great tunes and words.
I remember being rather disappointed when “TRB Two” came out, though. There were a few stinkers on that album, as I recall.
Nick L says
I saw him at Tolpuddle Festival in about 2016, and although back then he came across as maybe just a bit out of practice at times it was overall a great singalong performance in front of an appreciative crowd. I’d never seen him before but would definitely go again.
paulwright says
He never plays King Kong Elvis though…
I contacted him years go about not being able to find his albums on CD, and he sent me them as MP3 for free. Which was unexpectedly kind
Moose the Mooche says
That post can only conclude with you pushing down the plunger on a cafetiere.