Online review by New Noise“If you want to go on a vacation, the best place to go is to the past,” lamented Robyn Hitchcock to the polite, seated crowd at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts in Findlay, Ohio, on April 10.
Hitchcock, who is one of England’s most enduring singer/songwriters took the stage in a pink, floral-print collared shirt and carrying an acoustic guitar, before opening the set with Robyn Hitchcock And The Egyptians standout “My Wife and My Dead Wife,” a song he told Time magazine in 2013 he’d love never to play again. While he may not want to play it, Hitchcock’s keen understanding of his fanbase allows him to recognize that their love of his past work will keep them compelled as he continues to pursue muses and break new ground. This phenomenon is perhaps the key to Hitchcock’s success some 40 years after he founded The Soft Boys and 30-some years since turning alt-rock radio on its ear.
That said, Hitchcock quickly pivoted, introducing the first his forthcoming self-titled record, which sees release via Yep Roc on April 21, joking to the crowd that he had a single copy of it for sale in the foyer. About three minutes into the song, Hitchcock stepped to the mic to joke, “There is a riff here that is really good, but I can’t play it. On the record it’s in stereo. I don’t know how they do that.” One particularly poignant lyric, “8 billion zeros are still zeros if you’ve got no heart,” inspired another stream of consciousness bit of banter where Hitchcock commented that when email was introduced people complained that it ate in to their television time. Now, with social media becoming so prevalent, people are tweeting at the expense of email. He did joke that by starting the set 15 minutes earlier than usual, that the crowd would be home in plenty of time to tweet, send emails or watch T.V.
The remainder of his 45-minute set was peppered with old songs (from records he joked were not for sale in the foyer) and newer ones. The older cuts included “Madonna Of The Wasps,” and “I Often Dream of Trains,” the title track from his 1984 album of the same name. Prior to a newer track, Hitchcock explained that the premise of “Raymond & The Wires” is to peer through the fog of time to examine the influences of trains, trams, trolleys and his late father. According to Hitchcock Akron, Ohio, is the home of one of the last trackless trolleys – who knew?
He followed this newer track with “Be Still” after requesting “Double George Harrison vocals” from his sound engineer, whom he relied on heavily throughout the remainder of the set as he asked for delay effects, for his guitar to sound like a twelve string, etc. Hitchcock also played “I’m Only You,” fan favorite “Balloon Man,” and new cut, “Mad Shelley’s Letterbox,” a four-minute burst of power-pop that I’m sure is the envy of Guided By Voices’ Bob Pollard and the like.
Before calling it a night, Hitchcock invited the crowd to the foyer where he volunteered to autograph any records or t-shirts, to include those offered by evening headlines The Psychedelic Furs. True to his word, the gray-haired psyche pop legend wrapped his compelling set and headed directly to the merch table to greet fans of his work, both past and present.