Thursday’s Rob Dickinson show at Anderson’s Fifth Estate in Scottsdale, Ariz., felt strangely like a time warp. People in line outside the club were talking about Catherine Wheel’s Tempe, Ariz., concert in 1995 (my God, has it been 11 years?), and the once-hip kids are now parents who made baby-sitting arrangements before the show. Man, back in the day we’d be pre-show drinking.

That has to make a curious crossroads for Dickinson, whose trying to attract new fans to his solo work while appeasing the Catherine Wheel old-timers. Dickinson, who played solo and acoustic, seemed acutely aware of his CW faithful by playing a pretty balanced set, explaining that a couple of songs from his solo debut Fresh Wine for the Horses had “the ghost of the Wheel” in them.

I admire that Dickinson appears to accept his past instead of stubbornly refusing to acknowledge that the 100-plus fans at the show were there, at least in part, to hear some Catherine Wheel. (I, for one, was thrilled he played Black Metallic.) At the same time, Fresh Wine is growing on me and deserves to stand on its own merit.

Dickinson was kind enough to chat, sign autographs and take pictures with fans after the show. It seemed odd that the man behind Catherine Wheel would be standing in a meet-and-greet line. Regardless, I used the opportunity to ask his permission to post mp3s of the taped show; he kindly obliged.

For more on Rob Dickinson, check out Chromewaves today.

(Fair warning: One guy, bless his heart, kept yelling “We love you, Rob!” To his credit, Dickinson seemed somewhat amused.)

Rob Dickinson, live at Anderson’s 5th Estate, 1/26/06:
1. Heal*
2. The Storm
3. Oceans
4. My Name is Love
5. Ma Solituda*
6. Handsome
7. Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck*

* – Catherine Wheel songs.

(Note: Recording was made with my Sony MZ-M10 minidisc; imported as WAV with Hi-MD WAV importer for Mac; enhanced, converted to mp3 using Audio Hijack Pro. Do you see how much I care for you? … Where appropriate, I left banter/discussion from Dickinson, who has a very down-to-earth demeanor on stage.)