Nigel & The Crosses (aka
Robyn Hitchcock & friends)
The Borderline
London, UK
May 28, 1989
This is Robyn
Hitchcock as the lead dude, plus
various combinations of
Peter Holsapple, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Glenn
Tilbrook, Billy Bragg, Andy Metcalf & Morris Windsor
 |
| One of the few photos available proving that Nigel & The Crosses played a gig! |
audience
recording (sound quality VG+; transfer
from DAT copy of master tape)
REPERCUSSION: Peter H was the
inspiration for the handful of appearances that were made by this eclectic
group (see the interview below). Alas, he only gets to sing lead briefly for 1 song here. Nigel & The Crosses
even released a single with 2 tracks from this show via the fabulous UK music ‘zine Bucketfull of Brains. Makes sense: the group took its name from Nigel Cross, founding editor of B.O.B.
HIGHLIGHTS: A unique and
enjoyable show, featuring several Robyn Hitchcock tunes, a bunch of covers,
spirited performances, and very good sound quality.
BIG
HEAPIN’ THANKS to BP, TN and Vierstein91 for recording, transferring &
sharing!
For
maximum enjoyment: play the “who wrote & originally sang that?” game while you
listen…
SAMPLE: "Rain (Borderline 1989)"
DISC 1 Main Set (TT: 59:33)
01. I Wanna Destroy You
02. She Said She Said
03. Eight Miles High
04. Queen of Eyes
05. Waterloo Sunset
06. America
07. Freeze
08. The Veins of the Queen
09. Birdshead
10. Rain
11. Flesh Number One (Beatle Dennis)
12. Bells of Rhymney
13. The Rumour
14. Kingdom of Love
DISC 2 Encores (TT: 28:49)
15. Listening to the Higsons
16. Revolution Number One
17. Sin City
18. Route 66
19. You Ain't Goin’ Nowhere
20. I Saw Her Standing There
21. Foxy Lady
Peter H was touring with R.E.M. in 1989, which probably had a lot to do
with him playing in groups such as "Nigel & The Crosses,"
"Worst Case Scenario," and later, "Bingo Hand Job," etc.
From an interview
with Robyn Hitchcock June 21, 1989 by Robert Loerzel:
I read that you occasionally played with Peter Buck and
Peter Holsapple and you were calling yourselves Nigel and The Crosses?
RH:
That's right, yeah. We did a Nigel and The Crosses gig. The first one was
actually at the Cubby Bear in Chicago [and the group was billed that evening as "Worst Case Scenario"]. It was a sort of accident. Holsapple was
doing a benefit, and we all got up and played with him. We were basically
covering ourselves and covering other people, doing old Soft Boys songs...
basically just pop rock.
Are you planning on playing together again?
RH: We
did one in London last month, which was quite fun [ie, the show featured in this post]. But it's a matter of getting
everybody in the same place. I'd like to do one at Christmas, but it gets
expensive. I can't imagine doing a Nigel tour.
I read that you thought of it as an equivalent of the
Traveling Wilburys?
RH: (laughs) Well, actually the guy put that
into my mouth. He said, "You mean, is it like the Wilburys?" And I
said, "Sort of." The Wilburys was a way of relaunching their
respective careers, you know, which was a brilliant marketing move. With the
exception of Tom Petty, the rest of them hadn't been doing that well recently.
I don't know really know whether -- it's different for us. We have guest
Wilburys. We have Billy Bragg as a guest – Not Wilburys, Nigels, sorry. Billy
Bragg was with us, and Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze. So they're kind of honorary
Nigels. It's a floating outfit.
