elvis nick and robyn on youtube

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You can probably hear me screaming from the back row.

Robyn, Nick and....ELVIS?

Last night I was fortunate to be in attendance at a fantastic concert by Nick Lowe and Robyn Hitchcock. Both of these exquisitely quirky artists gave compelling performances, solo and on acoustic guitar, showcasing their brilliance as songwriters, guitarists, singers.

I laughed a lot, cried a little, sang along a great deal. As Nick's set seemed to be drawing to a close, though, I commented to my companion that, amazing as it was, the pace was a bit more sedate than I had expected. Little did I know that some more excitement was in store.

At the encore, they were joined onstage by none other than Elvis Costello! Imagine an auditorium full of people in, um, "late youth" jumping up and down and screaming their heads off. Elvis and Nick did a tune that E had written for N, "Indoor Fireworks." Then Robyn joined them to sing lead on two numbers: "If I Fell" by the Beatles, and the classic "Mystery Train" (Elvis even did a bit of an impersonation of the other Elvis on that one).

Photo blatantly stolen from--er--courtesy of this fine blogger.

A stellar evening. I wish you all could have been there!

just can't stop it

In response to the previous post, an old friend now living in the U.K. tells me that this very evening, he's going to see the Specials' Neville Staples perform with the Beat (aka the English Beat) tonight in Oxfordshire! I'm jealous.

If only the Concorde were still operational...