Robert Forster Live at the Toff of the Town!

Robert Forster Live Review - The Toff of the Town August 10, 2008 One time I asked Robert Forster if he'd like to be an actor. He said yes - as long as he could play himself. I'd love to cast him as a Presbyterian minister. One who holds court with the CWA ladies over tea and lamingtons talking about life and love and literature. An eccentric, older flirt. It'd be the perfect role and he could, indeed, play himself and do it well. It's the coldest day of Melbourne's winter and when Robert begins his acoustic set he's dressed in a light grey suit and a warm woolly scarf. He's in a good mood assuring the packed audience that he loves Melbourne and is looking forward to his own show. He's tall and commanding on stage. Warm, witty and curious in his manner telling stories, forgetting lyrics and dishing out one liners. Highlights of the two sets include "If It Rains", "Demon Days" and title track from The Evangelist album. Plus tracks like "German Farmhouse", "Head Full of Steam", "Spring Rain" and "Here Comes a City" from the back pages of the Go-Betweens. One by one members of his quartet (Adele Pickvance on bass, Glenn Thompson on guitar and organ and his new 21-year-old drummer) join him. It never gets too raucous although Robert loosens up, looses the scarf and begins roaming the stage, out-staring the audience. The thing that struck me: most of his songs hinge on askew rhyming patterns and choice and enunciation of particular words (usually not the words you're expecting). For example from the song "The Evangelist": I took her out of her home, a cabin near the woods And took her to this desert with threatening neighbourhoods She drove a Golf white diesel, she drove me through the streets She took me into her world of parks and wooden seats He purposely messes with the rhythms of his lyrics, so you'll unbalance as a listener, and start listening again, rather than drifting off. It sums up his whole demeanour - slightly awry so you never know what's coming next...just like an eccentric flirty Presbyterian minister.