Toyah and Robert Fripp brought a dumbed down, less flashy, version of their Sunday Lunch YouTube sensation to a packed enthusiastic Shepherd’s Bush Empire crowd.  To most peoples disappointment Toyah was actually all covered up in a gold lame sequined dress, and Robert was dressed sensibly (shirt, tie, waistcoat), as befitting a man of a certain age – 77.

A strange couple then – Prog Rock God Robert Fripp from King Crimson and wife Toyah Willcox of punk/new wave fame in the 80’s.  Something obviously clicked as they have been happily married since 1986 and it was obvious to everyone at the gig that they are totally smitten with each other still – good on them!  Robert was rooted to his stool the whole gig and constantly gazing at his wife in a bemused and loving way – with an occasional wry smile.

Toyah at 65 still looks great and is a bundle of energy bopping around the stage, dancing feverously and spending time longingly looking at and touching Robert during his many guitar solo’s.  On the whole Toyah’s vocals are pretty good, she held the crowd’s attention but for me I would have liked the sound up more, it wasn’t that loud.

The gig has two sets starting at 20:00 with a 20 min break.  The band comprises 8 in total (2 keyboards, 3 guitars, bass and drums and Toyah).  The stage is pretty spartan but has lots of blow up unicorns, hearts and crowns strewn about it.  The lighting was somewhat basic too.  The songs themselves are a eclectic mix of many genres.  A few Toyah songs plus stuff that Robert has been directly involved with, songs by friends of theirs or just songs they like – see the set list further down.

They kick off with Toyah’s ‘Thunder in the Mountains’ so a good start.  Between each song Toyah enthusiastically regals us with stories about the upcoming songs and why the song/artist is special to them.  Robert occasionally butts in to correct Toyah with a bit of comedy banter in grumpy old man style.  Toyah is constantly bigging up Robert to the crowd – yes we know he has played on many a classic record and knows pretty much everyone in the business.  It does get a bit sycophantic but what the hell it was fun.  

There was a long introduction to ‘It’s A Mystery’ and how she thought it was shit it but the record company insisted she release it as a single – and they were right as it was shifting 75k units a day for 6 weeks and went up to number 4 in the charts. She invited the audience to video the song and have good memories – to quote her  “I hope you had your first date to this song, your first shag to this song, or you sir your first mullet”. Yes we were all laughing!

Setlist Toyah and Robert Fripp (click on link to watch YouTube video)

1. Thunder in the Mountains
2. Heart of Glass
3. Are You Gonna Go My Way
4. Echo Beach
5. It’s a Mystery
6. Paranoid
7. Sunshine of Your Love
8. Tainted Love
9. Kashmir

break

1. Enter Sandman
2. School’s Out
3. Sweet Child o’ Mine
4. Fashion
5. Sharp Dressed Man
6. Rockin’ in the Free World
7. Relax
8. Rebel Yell
9. I Want to Be Free
10. Heroes
11. I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll

He has worked with, produced and toured with so many over the years e.g. Blondie, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie and is friends with many more stellar artists like Robert Plant.  So therefore we get  covers of ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’, ‘Kashmir’, ‘Heroes’ etc.   Lots of heavy stuff as well ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘School’s Out’, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’, ‘Paranoid’, ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ all done in the best possible taste – apart from perhaps some dodgy flirting inuendo during Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s ‘Relax’ when she rubs up to Robert and drools “when you want to come” – get a room 😊!!!  This was probably the worst cover of the night.

Neil Young’s ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ got everyone up on their feet and was introduced as an anti-war song, and Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ is an all time classic.

So basically the Sunday kitchen shenanigans don’t really work in the live environment and it ends up as a good quality karaoke night out.  A night of fun and self-parody and I’m sure everyone left with a smile of their face.   They have found a niche for themselves on YouTube with over 120m hits, long may they continue to be relevant. I wonder what Robert really thinks about it all – now he’s more popular and well known than ever.  At £40 a ticket a damn good night out.

Marko [23/10/2023]