Toyah and Robert Fripp play Shocking Blue's classic Venus

Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox in their kitchen

(Image credit: Toyah Willcox)

It's been a frustrating few months for fans of Robert Fripp and Toyah Willcox. The enterprising pair have resolutely failed in their duty of care for the nation, apparently preferring to fill their regular Sunday Lunch light entertainment spot on YouTube with a variety of regurgitated 'Greatest Hits' performances rather than film new episodes.

Well, we can breathe again. For this weekend we got a new song, and we got it good. The King Crimson man and his captivating bride turned to their attention to Dutch rockers Shocking Blue and their 1969 classic Venus, and the resultant performance is as stellar as it is startling. And it's very startling, not least for the fact that Fripp has a giant 'F' painted on his forehead, and is sporting eye makeup that is both shocking and blue. It's worth sticking around until the end, where Toyah appears to speak in some sort of alien tongue.

Quite where this will eventually lead is anyone's guess, but all roads currently point towards California, where Fripp is engaged in a series of spoken word engagements with King Crimson manager David Singleton. The pair will appear at the Harold J. Miossi Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CPAC) at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo tomorrow evening, and the tour will conclude at the Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever in Los Angeles on March 3. Full dates below.

Robert Fripp & David Singleton: Englishmen Abroad tour

Feb 23: Santa Cruz Kuumbwa Jazz Center, CA
Feb 24: Sacramento Sofia Theater, CA
Feb 25: San Francisco The Chapel, CA
Feb 27: San Luis Obispo Cuesta PAC, CA
Feb 29: Agoura Hills Canyon Agoura, CA
Mar 01: Santa Barbara ETC at the New Vic, CA
Mar 02: San Juan Capistrano The Coach House, CA
Mar 03: Santa Monica McCabes Guitar Shop, CA
Mar 04: Los Angeles The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, CA

Tickets are on sale now.

Artists

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.