Sophia (Robin solo) - Mar. 20 '01: Botanique, Brussel (B)

Set list *I left you *So slow *If only *Every day *Ship in the sand *Are you happy now *Jealous guy *Death of a salesman *Is it any wonder *Directionless *Another friend *Last night I had a dream *The sea Review 1 Support act Mintzkov Luna were as brilliant as ever. Robin seemed to like them too. As this was the first gig on the tour Robin was rather nervous. He started the show with a new song: ‘I left you’. Before playing ‘So slow’  Robin dedicated the gig to piano player Will as his father died the week before. The rest of the show went very well up to ‘Jealous guy’ when he broke a string. But there was also something wrong with his second guitar so he had to put a new string on the first guitar. Then the sound went dead in the middle of a song. And Robin seemed to have forgotten most of the songs from ‘Fixed water’. He hadn’t played them in ages and clearly hadn’t rehearsed the show. The crowd had to help him out with the cords and the lyrics. It kinda killed the gig, but Robin made lots of jokes about it so we had a good laugh. He came back twice for encores. Espicially ‘Sea’, another new one, really stood out. Great song. Another highlight that has to be mentioned was the soft and breakable ‘Is it any wonder’. Here’s the full setlist: Wouter Berteloot, 21/03/2001 Review 2 First show of a two months' tour. And yep, we noticed it was his first show. In an amateuristic mood, Robin took part in a quiz with his own songs as the main topic. Lyrics and cords suffered from amnesia ... The last release dates from 1998, nothing new is on its way, but Sophia still manages to sell out most of the dates in advance. The 6 Belgian dates (that country that's about the size of NYC ...) are 99% sold out. Had some difficulties to get in, so I missed the local openers Mintzkov Luna. Too bad. Anyway, I came to see how Sophia's doing these days. The first part of the tour is Robin solo, most of the German dates are with the band. He immediately kicked of with a new song, "I Left You". A song in the line of the two Sophia albums, so you won't hear us complain. At the start of "So Slow", Robin dedicated the show to Will (who was supposed to join him on piano on this part of the tour but whose father passed away last week). "If Only" went ok, but at the end of "Every Day", he seemed to have forgotten how to play the final part. Later, we learnt he forgot most of his songs ... A brilliant new one, "Ship in the Sand" (on the live album too) and "Are You Happy Now" lead us to the Lennon cover "Jealous Guy". Robin asked if we knew the tv-show Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire and said he rang a friend 20 minutes before the show to ask if he remembered the words to the third part of the song ... apparently he didn't. Halfway, a string broke and the spare guitar only gave us distortion. Robin proposed to change strings and to let us listen to his Pet Shop Boys cover on cd. Strange but funny anyway. The lip-sync end reminded us all of those good old Spice Girls days. Just as we thought things were getting back to normal ("Death Of A Salesman"), "Is It Any Wonder" went wrong again ("is this right? it's first 'dreamers' and then 'deceivers'?"). Same with "Directionless": "I really want to play this song, so please let me try again ...". Way to go, Murphy! Anyway, we had a good laugh (the clumsiness is way funnier than his jokes ...). Someone suggested to kick off the encores with Another Friend. This time the audience had to spell the cords (thanks Emmanuel - "You saved the show"). Robin finished with "Last Night I Had A Dream". Since we all started loving the do-YOU-remember-my-songs-mood, everyone wanted one more. Robin hoped we would just leave, but in the end he had to come back for one last song. After all difficulties with the old songs, a girl suggested to try a new one. A beautiful "The Sea" - the first time he played it alone - sent us home. You want an evaluation? Nice try-out show. Never expected a Sophia gig to be a stand-up comedy evening ... Christophe Demunter