Robyn Hitchcock in Northampton

Hey, this was good.

Went out for a night of rock 'n' roll in Northampton. Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 played a sold out Iron Horse Music Hall they day their picture was lead art in the New York Times arts section.

Hitchcock's quite a great talent with his twisted and poetic point of view on the world; his songs are melodic and hypnotic keys to this unusual parallel universe. And this time he's got maybe his best band ever behind him in the Venus 3, with Peter Buck, Scott McCoughey and Bill Rieflin backing him.

It was a show built to show off his originality, with a solo acoustic cover of his late kindred soul Syd Barrett, followed by one of his own classics with percussion and harmonica added ("Queen Elvis"), and then the full on band.

Buck, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame just a couple weeks ago with R.E.M., was fun to see on the small Iron Horse stage, mostly playing ringing electric 12-string guitar with the most celestial sounds this side of Roger McGuinn. He was a generous backup player with no interest in calling attention to himself, playing practically no solos (and forget any of those windmill moves he plays with his main band).

McCaughey, who heads his own fine band in the Minus 7, when he isn't the most valuable sideman to R.E.M., was also a strong addition to this band, playing bass and singing harmony. Together they make new songs like "Underground Sun" rank up there with the best in his vast catalog. A swell cover in the second encore was Bob Dylan's "Not Dark Yet."

Because Northampton is kind of a dream small city, there was time at the end of the show to walk over to the Pearl Street and catch the reunion set by the local heroes Sebadoh. The trio of Lou Barlow, Eric Gaffney and Jason Lowenstein never played in Northampton much, they said, though as they kept singing old songs more and ore of them originated there, from Gaffney's "Moldy Bread," which he said he wrote in U.S. History class there, to Barlow's "Vampire," which he said he wrote the day he left Western Massachusetts for Boston.

They'd switch around instruments punk rock style; Barlow'd alternate on bass and guitar; Gaffney'd switch between guitar and drums; Lowenstein between drums and bass. Unlike a lot of postpunk bands who reunite, their sound wasn't any more refined at all. It was still crude and ramshackle -- a jarring contrast to the surreal elegance of Hitchcock's stuff. You could also see how influential the band was, in their own way, with Barlow's confessional songs and yelping leading directly to what people would call emo.

Northampton isn't just a town with multiple rock venues with top-flight offerings ont he same night, it was also the kind of place where rock stars would be in the audiences -- two members of NRBQ and Mark Mulcahy at the Iron Horse; J. Mascis watching proceedings at the Pearl Street.