Robyn: Live at the Roundhouse

All due apologies for the lack of "witty" title.

Last night, we traipsed down from Oxford to the Roundhouse in Camden to see perennial Pop Web favourite Robyn perform live. Let it be known from the outset that whilst we will certainly try to deliver the jounralistic objectivity loyal readers have come to occasionally see expect from this reputable blog, we were so bloody excited about the whole thing that she could have stepped on stage and read the local Chinese takeaway menu and we'd have loved it. Such excitement, we hope, will also explain the fact that we forgot to bring a camera and thus have no photos of the event which was (in hindsight) a bit of an error.

Let's get the tedious negatives out of the way first. The set was fairly short. The whole concert lasted just less than an hour, and appeared to be suffering from some delays in the earlygoing. The reasons for this became clear when Robyn eventually took to the stage and addressed the crowd. Robyn has been suffering from a throat infection, which in fact has caused her to cancel tonight's gig in Bristol. Given these caveats, what Robyn actually delivered in the hour she was on stage was nothing short of amazing.

From beginning to end there was no wasted motion, and track after track was delivered with staggering energy. There wasn't a single point that we could discern that the crowd's energy level dropped, which is absolutely a testament to Robyn's ability to engage an audience. For someone who is clearly a bit under the weather (to say the least) the Swedish dynamo was constantly leaping around the stage, dancing every bit as frenetically as she does in the video for Dancing On My Own. It was certainly an 'A' for effort from us.

The setlist delivered hit after hit, but nostalgia was noticeably lacking. Starting things off with Time Machine was an inspired choice as it got the by-now restless crowd firmly on side with one of Body Talk's more undersung anthems. Vocally, this was a polished performance (again, amazing given her current bout of illness), but frankly, the singing along of the crowd on Dancing On My Own (be warned, that video contains liberal use of strobe lighting) and Cobrastyle meant that Robyn could have sang every single note off key and it wouldn't have mattered. Dancing On My Own was given a very early airing, which initially had us worried that after her biggest recent hit, the energy levels would drop. Those fears were utterly unfounded, as We Dance To The Beat/Don't Fucking Tell Me What To Do built on "Dancing's" momentum and actually made us appreciate two of the more experimental (read, skippable) tracks on Body Talk. We could enthuse at length about the many other phenomenal performances Robyn delivered, including Love Kills, and Stars 4-Ever which were two of the more impressive sleeper hits of the night. Instead, what we'd like to focus on are the three tracks which, to be quite honest, if we died tonight we'd be glad we lived to hear live.

Firstly, Indestructible. (Apologies for the slightly fluctuating sound quality on this video)

Particular highlights here included a man standing behind us bellowing this song with such gusto that it almost made us want to turn around, hug him, and tell him that everything was going to be all right. Also, the mini-breakdown after the "four to the floor" bit where everyone did the right thing and clapped along. Well done Camden.

Secondly, The Girl and the Robot

Of all of the songs in the Robyn corpus, this is the one that can, at any given moment, dissolve us into floods of tears and force us to atonally warble along. Seeing it live magnified that feeling tenfold. Absolutely beautiful performance of a beautiful song.

And finally, With Every Heartbeat. With one performance, Robyn absolutely cemented her reputation as the queen of disco-fuelled heartbreak (yes, that well known monarchy). The noise from the crowd when those first beats kicked in was frankly astonishing, and the feverish refrain of "And. It. Hurts. With. Every. Heartbeat" as the concert drew to a close was (not to be too gushy about this) inspiring. An amazing conclusion to a phenomenal concert which sent the room's two key demographics (i.e. Scandinavians and gays, or, as we loudly termed them on the tube going home, "Scandigayvians"...) hope both happy and heartbroken.

With all that said, there were some unfortunate omissions from the evening. Hang With Me was conspicuous by its absence as was None of Dem similarly, Cobrastyle and With Every Heartbeat Aside, there was no room for going over old glory in this concert. This was all about Body Talk, and as such Be Mine! and Who's That Girl? were somewhat missed, to say nothing of Show Me Love or Keep This Fire Burning. This was not a greatest hits concert, but it was also far from self-indulgent. Robyn had the crowd singing along to every single word, and she showcased Body Talk beautifully, remaining accessible for new fans whilst indulging the rabid fanbase she had attracted to the show. 

All it remains is for us to do is to count down the seconds until Robyn is back in the UK, in rude health. Because, frankly, if we can be left this buzzing with excitement 24 hours after a concert in which she wasn't at 100%, we can't wait to see what she'd deliver when she's back on top form.