Robyn and Emma's house Set List Notes Reviews

Details

Date
October 21, 2020
Venue
Robyn and Emma's house London, England
Billed As
Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift
Gig Type
Online

Notes

'Sweet Home Quarantine' online show on StageIt.com

Reviews

Review by Steve McGowan from Zub Records
The show started with a glimpse of Tubby and Emma Swift. Robyn mentioned that he was wearing his “Nick Lowe glasses,” and read one more chapter of his extended story ‘The Three Directions.’ He stopped the story in mid sentence, and picked up his acoustic and did ‘This Could Be The Day’ from 1984’s I Often Dream Of Trains. His playing was self-assured and the show was off to a good start. He then did the beautiful instrumental ‘Heartful Of Leaves’ from the same LP, his playing magnificent on a slow, Nick Drake inspired tune.

Then he did ‘Not Even A Nurse,’ an B-Side from Trains that was on the Yep Rock CD reissue. Reg said he’d never played it before. Emma appeared, and after some banter (her fantastic new song, ‘The Soft Apocalypse,’ is now out for download on Bandcamp). They did a very stripped down version of ‘I Used To Say I Love You,’ another Trains B-side from the Midnight Records CD reissue. Very pretty and sad dismalia with fantastic singing from the duo.

Perry the Lobster and Germaine the Koala appeared, and the duo did ‘Adventure Rocket Ship’ from Ole Tarantula! The duo were really on tonight, Emma doing a bit of counter melody. This is a wonderful, fun Reg song and they delivered it well. They discussed the song a bit, and after some tech adjustments, Emma sang Dylan’s ‘Simple Twist Of Fate’ from her covers LP Blonde On The Tracks (tinyurl.com/zubblonde). Her beautiful voice brought an emotional gravitas to this song only hinted at in the original.

Emma moved off camera, and Robyn said “he never plays this song” as an intro to ‘Mr. Deadly’ from Invisible Hitchcock. This is one I indeed never heard him play live, and acoustically it definitely had an early Bowie feel. He broke straight into ‘Don’t Talk To Me About Gene Hackman,’ an unlisted track from the Jewels For Sophia, a fan favorite and a hilarious song. Emma reappeared, they discussed Gene Hackman, with Emma mentioning she loved ‘twee English.’ Then they dedicated ‘Sometimes A Blonde’ to a couple of Groovers celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary. This Spooked track was perfect for Reg and Em. Totally beautiful. They discussed the songs they have left for the time. They did the bright and Beatley ‘Alright Yeah’ from Moss Elixir. Our duo were having a great time, Reg playing great guitar, and the two of them singing like angels.

They mentioned cats Tubby and Ringo were fighting just off camera and “a lot of shit was going down.” After some discussion, Reg said the next song was about his mother, with a lot of “macho ultraviolence” added. The duo did ‘Light Blue Afternoon’ from Tromso, Kaptein, a very strong Hitchcock tune with one of his signature melodies. To end up, they did a fast version of ‘The Queen Of Eyes,’ a classic song from The Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight. This one is a regular feature, and the duo did it justice.

They said their goodbyes, ending another remarkable show. Robyn and Emma having fun and at the top of their game. I loved the material from I Often Dream Of Trains and the B-Sides. Reg continues to bring up old songs that are done well, and always keeps it interesting. Emma, as always, is just a fantastic singer. I truly enjoyed every minute of this one.

---Steve McGowan