As we edge closer to a new year and look to sign off on a very busy 2024 for gigs, the spectre of Covid lockdowns and the 15 month absence of live music has thankfully become a distant memory. Quick to adapt to the situation back then, Toyah and Robert‘s Sunday videocasts proved to be a welcome distraction from what was going on and quickly became a must watch as their madcap antics became more and more outrageous. Naturally this has now led to some live shows with the duo being backed with a full band which has seen them at Summer festivals and short tour dates. Somehow, though, this current tour in panto season seems more appropriate which culminates in this date at the Wulfrun Hall.

Cheltenham singer / songwriter, Frazer Lepford, opened the proceedings with a set of original material bookended between covers of Buffalo Springfield’s ‘For What It’s Worth’ and The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale Of New York’.  Given that it would have been the first time most would have heard his own material, it’s to his credit that the likes of ‘The Cure’ and ‘Beautiful Bones’ received just as much appreciation as the better known covers. With his debut album due in 2025, he’s a talent worth keeping an eye on.

Billed as the ‘Christmas Party’, the stage is festively dressed with an inflatable Santa, snowmen and reindeer, creating a celebratory atmosphere. Not only is this the last date of the tour but also Robert Fripp has decided that this will also be his final tour. The band take to the stage and Robert and Toyah receive a rapturous welcome as they launch into ‘Thunder in The Mountains’. There then follows a set that mixes up several Toyah originals with covers that are relevant to the couple or, as she explains, “just because they’re songs we like and enjoy playing”. The first of which is Lenny Kravitz’ ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’, followed by one that has long been a set favourite for many years; ‘Echo Beach’.

In contrast to those lockdown videos, there’s a professionalism taking charge of the chaotic madness. The band are tight and the sound is superb. Between each songs there’s a quick introduction to explain why they’ve chosen that particular song with an anecdote, which Robert usually corrects with dates or facts. They recount that after covering ‘Paranoid’ they received a call from Tony Iommi, a local friend, asking “what are you doing? are you fucking mad?!” Naturally, that’s the next song they cover but it’s not the heaviest song of the night, that’s reserved for “Enter Sandman”. There’s another surprise with ‘Paradise City’ where Toyah explains that if she had written that then she’d have bought the Civic Hall with the royalties.

Elsewhere there’s the originals ‘It’s A Mystery’ and ‘I Want To Be Free’ but it’s ‘Roses In Chains’ that stands out as being particularly strong here. More diverse covers take in Blondie, ZZ Top and Cream. There’s a link to Slade when it’s noted that King Crimson once toured the US with the band. Toyah comments that the fans of each band would probably have beat the shit out of one another then, but continues to recall that as a teenager she remembers chasing Dave Hill around a Birmingham department store as a means of introducing ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ which also sees the crowd in good voice. This it seems would normally close the main set, but an early Sunday curfew avoids the customary encore and they decide just to play on with Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ with Fripp’s iconic intro finally getting everyone to their feet.

The set closes with Joan Jett’s ‘I Love Rock N Roll’, and it’s clear that they do. It’s been a wonderful night of fun and there won’t be a soul leaving that hasn’t had a good time and gone home a little happier and more Christmassy than when they arrived.

Setlist:

Thunder in the Mountains
Are You Gonna Go My Way
Echo Beach
Paranoid
It’s a Mystery
Fashion
Sunshine of Your Love
Heart of Glass
Sweet Child o’ Mine
Roses in Chains
Sharp Dressed Man
Enter Sandman
Rockin’ in the Free World
Rebel Yell
I Want to Be Free
Merry Xmas Everybody
Heroes
I Love Rock’n’Roll