Photo credit: Laura Partrain
By shying away from minor key songs, Robyn Hitchcock only meant to save his rapt audience the trouble of making their blood as frozen as the weather outside at his show at Shank Hall Tuesday night. Or so the songwriter explained before drifting into a typical tangent about the difficulty of removing icicles shaped like veins from a body.
The above sort of absurdity marked much of Hitchcock's patter between songs on his latest of multiple visits to the cozy Farwell Street club and not a little portion of the lyrics he sung. His reference to what he perceived as the increased brightness of the lights at the Shell station across the street made for but one clue as to his familiarity with the area he has played several times prior.
A good many in his attendant throng were likewise familiar with the erstwhile Soft Boys leader's rich solo catalog, especially that coinciding with his1980-’90s major label days of high college radio rotation. Wittily askew musical portraiture such as "Madonna of the Wasps" and "The Devil's Coachman" met with claps and cheers as Hitchcock started in on them. Scattered cries requesting his arguably biggest alt rock hit, "Balloon Man," went unheeded, but a man as prolific as Hitchcock can only sing so much of oeuvre in one night, especially if he wants to regale his listeners with his charm as a raconteur. Among the more memorable tales he spun was a fanciful prevarication about Prince Charles' requesting that he write a new national anthem for Great Britain before London's turn hosting the Olympics to preface "Dismal City."
Newer, more foreboding numbers including "San Francisco Patrol" and "Trouble On Your Blood" from his latest album, The Man Upstairs, may not possess the same oddball humor but were likewise greeted with hearty applause for his masterly songwriting and effectively disquieting vocalizing. Even then, he couldn't suppress his silly streak, indulging as he did in a detailed discourse regarding an imaginary song cycle corresponding to the second Dirty Harry movie of which he cited "Patrol" is part.
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Toward the end of his set and expected encores he treated himself, as he put it, to his favorite Bob Dylan song, the none too cheery "Visions of Johanna." Not long thereafter he brought Australian folkie opener Emma Swift back to the stage to harmonize with him on his own somewhat cynical “Queen Elvis" and the Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris arrangement of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts." Last song of the evening, preceded a barely veiled quip about Lou Reed's heroin abuse, was The Velvet Underground's equally melancholy "Pale Blue Eyes." Joining Hitchcock and Swift for it was the tour's driver and merch table attendant, simply introduced as Yvonne, keeping rhythm with a tambourine and adding caramel rich alto vocals to offset Swift's sweet soprano. Hitchcock would do well to arrange some studio time for the woman who has been driving his van and selling CDs at his shows if he hasn't already.
Swift, on her first U.S. tour, made a positive impression with her few songs preceding Hitchcock. She assayed another Parsons number, while her originals reflected a similar sadness contrasting with her otherwise radiant countenance, tales of thrift shopping for Tammy Wynette's discarded wardrobe during her time in Nashville and testifying to Hitchcock being as much of an eccentric in personal conversation on the road as he is in front of a microphone.
