I guess I didn't expect it because I had not been paying attention to anything he had done solo and was oblivious to any rumbles.
The "It would only work at ATP" stuff is kind of confounding especially after he said they plan to play everywhere.
It wasn't all that public but if you saw his postings for the past several years, you could see his struggle with coming out again and performing. He's a bit of a tortured depressive. I too thought that came off as being kind of contradictory but that's Robert. Anything could happen.
@Rhett/James - You and the newbies, I'm sure, are the only ones who don't know what I was talking about.
Catherine Wheel would be really cool but I have a feeling that it would mostly depend on how hungry Rob Dickinson gets and feels that he might need the rest of the band to spark his creative/live performance desires. At least, that's my impression.
Spacemen 3 would be a great treat but that's not happening. At least, not anytime in the near future.
The Slowdive possibility seems to have cleared Neil Halstead's issues but now Rachel Goswell has her own and more important troubles she needs to attend to.