Photos by Nashville Scene

Online review of the show by Nashville Scene
It’s somewhat difficult to talk about Robyn Hitchcock without talking about The Beatles, and even more difficult to try to explain exactly what “post-Beatles” means without getting so inside-British-rock-baseball that everyone’s eyes glaze over. That said, Hitchcock is emblematic of the wave of British rock songwriters who followed quite faithfully in the wake of a certain fabulous quartet, so much so that one of his first-ever musical projects was a band called (wait for it) The Beetles.

But if the London-born, Nashville-residing Hitchcock is a revivalist, he’s not a completely faithful one. The Soft Boys, which he formed in 1976, may have been indebted to every breath George Harrison took between Rubber Soul and All Things Must Pass, but their cosmopolitan neo-psychedelia was not immune to the punk explosion that was sweeping across the country. That group would eventually dissolve in 1981, the same year Hitchcock released his first solo record Black Snake Dîamond Röle. But if Hitchcock’s work since then and his Mercy Lounge concert Friday night are any indication, he’s never lost the group mentality. His new backing band, dubbed The Nashville Fabs, features Tristen's collaborator (and husband) Buddy Hughen on guitar, drummer (and Ben Kweller keyboardist) Ryan Brewer, and Wilco’s Pat Sansone on bass. Given the collective résumé, it feels redundant to mention that as a unit, they were pretty much airtight.

Up next was Hitchcock himself, Nashville Fabs in tow. “Welcome to our annual rhythm-and-blues show,” he drawled in what is quite frankly a wondrous English accent. “We’re going to play about an hour of amplified beat music, and then some of our friends are going to join us for some Beatles songs.” Managing expectations up front — you really do love to see it.

Hitchcock delivered on his promise of a career-spanning set. There was a particularly evocative version of his recent single “Sunday Never Comes,” originally a commission for the 2018 film Juliet, Naked, “Winchester” from 1986’s Element of Light, “Mad Shelley’s Letterbox” and “Autumn Sunglasses” from 2017’s self-titled LP, and an especially punchy take on “So You Think You’re in Love,” a cult-favorite hit from 1991’s unfairly maligned Perspex Island (and originally recorded as a Soft Boys demo). Speaking of The Soft Boys, Nelson returned to help Hitchcock & Co. on a wholly perfect version of “I Wanna Destroy You,” which he dedicated to Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Boris Johnson, “and the whole fuckin’ bunch.”

Hitchcock also delivered on his set-opening promise of a miniature Beatles revue. Nelson led off with “You Won’t See Me”; Tristen (a Sagittarius, Hitchcock mentioned as he reported on the star signs of his guests) followed with “Here, There and Everywhere”; Lilly Hiatt (a Taurus) sang “Cry Baby Cry”; and Emma Swift (back to Sagittarius) sang “Something.” The set culminated in a phenomenally faithful — meaning slightly menacing — take on “I Am the Walrus,” with Swift, Tristen and Hiatt on harmony vocals and Nelson reading the portion of King Lear that appears in the original recording.

There was no encore and no need for one. But you have to wonder: Technically speaking, would such a move count as something “post-Beatles,” too? Just something to ponder. Goo-goo g’joob, and whatnot.