Rob Dickinson (Catherine Wheel)
3/4/7
Schubas in Chicago
It’s not that I’m in love with Rob Dickinson exactly but there really is something special about him. Although I became a Catherine Wheel fan in high school, I was never able to see and hear him perform with his bandmates, which is regrettable. Suffice it to say that if you are a fan of Catherine Wheel, seeing Rob Dickinson playing solo with mainly just his acoustic guitar and at times a harmonica is something to really be treasured.
This was my second time seeing the ethereal crooner who swoops up octaves in anguish and what really made me want to see him again is the fact that he does play his Catherine Wheel material. The setlist is usually split about half and half between solo stuff off of 2005’s Fresh Wine For the Horses and the back catalog of Catherine Wheel material. Fresh Wine for the Horses actually has quite a few gems at the end of the album but the beginning of it aims to be too ballad heavy and radio friendly for my taste. Basically, it would make a fantastic EP. Suffice it to say that in general, I feel it pales in comparison to his previous work and the Catherine Wheel songs were the definite highlights of the set for me.
What was also nice is that he mixed up some of the old material and didn’t just play the same favorites he played last time when he was in town. The old songs that were the same between sets included “Heal,” “Crank” and “Black Metallic.” He also started to play “Future Boy” as an encore but after some difficulty remembering how it went, switched to “My Solituda” (which I actually like better.) In addition, the Catherine Wheel songs he didn’t end up playing last time around include: “Delicious,” “Ballad of a Running Man,” and “I Want to Touch You.”
Of course, the real advantage to seeing Dickinson in this type of venue vs. a place like The Metro with Catherine Wheel is that you get a better sense of his personality between songs. Throughout his 75 minute set, it was nice to see him laugh and talk and just in general act like he was having a conversation with you over coffee. When he introduced “I Want to Touch You” he was talking about backing up his cousin Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden on drums when Bruce suggested to him that he could sing instead of be a drummer. “I Want to Touch You” was one of the first songs he came up with.
There were a couple of soft spots too where you could sense a touch of vulnerability. Before he played Wishville’s “Ballad of a Running Man,” he spoke about how he felt like the album was unloved. (For the record, I actually love Wishville in its entirety) He also referred once to Catherine Wheel by saying, “Before I was a folk singer, I used to be in a rock band,” which seemed a bit strange to me considering I’m guessing most of the audience was there because of his work with Catherine Wheel. Though, there was a moment when he was playing the unfortunately sappy “My Name is Love” when I saw tears in womens’ eyes and a guy holding up his cell phone so that presumably the person on the other end could share and relish in the moment. Frankly, Dickinson is better than this song and if you gathered up the sum of Catherine Wheel’s parts, you sense he has some fantastic insights and is one of those people who helps redeem the human race. His talent is wasted on songs like “His Name is Love” in my opinion when he could be writing songs like “Phantom of the American Mother” again.
Unfortunately, his career seems to still be headed in the sing songy fodder direction. For instance, he debuted a song entitled “End of the World” which he said was not recorded yet but was inspired by George Bush’s insanity. That raised my hopes but the song was simply about making a girl happy in the last five minutes of the world. It’s not that it was a horrible song. It’s just depressing considering we all know what Rob is capable of. We’ve seen his best work so many of these new songs just don’t seem to measure up.
I don’t know if Rob will ever get Catherine Wheel back together and perhaps it was the dynamics and chemistry within the inner workings of the group which helped bring out a sort of lullaby-ish madness that made my jaw drop in a sort of wondrous awe. Let’s hope whether he does get back together with his bandmates or not, he rediscovers some of the elements that made his previous songs so great.
View the complete photo set on flickr
Rob Dickinson’s setlist:
March 6th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
sounds like a swell show! always nice to have a bit of personality and interaction that isn’t put on.
back in the heyday of london (and there was one
) the catherine wheel played here. it was a terrific, sweaty show.