Review by Steve McGowan from Zub RecordsRobyn said hello and mentioned he had a “stack of requests,” and launched into a “divorce” song, ‘The Devil’s Coachman,’ which was typical Robyn: sad and surreal and very good. Next was ‘Luckiness,’ from Propellor Time, a song I haven’t heard him do live before. Emma Swift came in, thanking everyone and generally being sweet. Reg said they’d play some “dismal requests,” and they started with the great ‘The Wreck Of The Arthur Lee,’ the duo’s voices working wonderfully together.
They spoke about future streaming shows and doing Brian Ferry and John Lennon shows. Then the duo sang ‘Birdshead,’ from You And Oblivion, continuing the obscure Hitchcock song vein. It was a gorgeous, gentle song, a real gem in the set. Emma left and Robyn said “my complete lack of faith in humanity” has been proven since he wrote this song 42 tears ago. He then did The Soft Boys ‘Human Music’ from A Can Of Bees, with some prescient lyrics:
The wind explodes and rips itself to pieces everywhere
It itches in the chimney and it suffocates the air
The angels tried to anchor but they never get the chance
Their limbs are numb and twisted so they're going to have to dance
What scares you most will set you free
That's what the angel said to me, he said
Ooh baby, when that human music plays I don't know why
Hitchcock, like last week, was really on a roll. Emma appeared with Tubby, who had business elsewhere. Next was ‘Filthy Bird’ from Moss Elixir, one of my favorite Hicthcock songs. There was no Deni Bonet violin as featured on the album, but a great version nonetheless. Emma came back with a docile Ringo, and the duo did ‘A Man’s Gotta Know His Limitations, Briggs.’ This is another great, somewhat obscure song from Ole! Tarantula, Reg dropped a verse and there was a bit of confusion, but this was great to hear. “On the subject of tyranny and global disaster,” they did ‘Brenda’s Iron Sledge,’ where we got Robyn’s nickname from:
Please don’t call me Reg, it’s not my name
After finishing, they did a bit of ‘Funky Town.” Then Reg played ‘San Francisco Patrol,’ from his fine The Man Upstairs LP, he picked the chords and Em and he sounded just amazing on this aching love song. It was truly beautiful. They had a long talk about Robyn’s crush on Liz Phair, and ended with ‘Saturday Groovers,’ sometimes with the ‘Wednesday Groovers’ lyric instead, in honor of the constant listeners. They cut it short and thanked everyone. Robyn really delivered tonight with some more deep cuts, and Emma, as always, was great.