Nigel & The Crosses - Borderline, London – 1989

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  

  

MP3@320

DISC 1 (MF alt. link)

DISC 2 (MF alt. link)
  

 

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.