Online review by Country Standard Time
Defying convention, Hitchcock brings the joy
City Winery, Boston, October 29, 2024
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz

Robyn Hitchcock would not be accused of being your traditional performer – not that that detracted from his mainly solo outing before presumably longstanding fans.
With a new album of covers, "1967," under his belt, the British musician living in Nashville might have been expected to end the very generous two-hours on the button show with his biggest hit, "Balloon Man," or at least play it somewhere during the set. Not Hitchcock. He got the night rolling with the song, and it stands up 36 years later.

That's as if to say, "here's my biggest, but I have a lot of other arrows in my quiver."

Which was pretty close to the truth. Hitchcock played songs from throughout his career. Often, he opted for a British folk sound. Other times, he went on the poppy side ("Beautiful Girl" still sounds great).

One constant was the wit and at times inscrutable meaning of the songs. Hitchcock was his humorous self with a number of funny comments throughout – and funny songs (perhaps none more notable than "My Wife and My Dead Wife" – at least the way Hitchcock delivered it).

Then there were the covers. "1967" includes some very well-known ("A Whiter Shade of Pale," which wasn't played tonight) and others not all that well known (there is one original). The songs were recorded in conjunction with his book "1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left."

With new music out, Hitchcock would have been expected to push the music a lot. Curiously, though that didn't happen until the three-song encore when the white-haired singer said he was going to play a few songs from the album.

About time for sure, but the wait was well worth it, starting with The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset." Hitchcock's version sounded as if he could have penned it himself. He followed with "Way Back in the 1960s," a song from The Incredible String Band, before closing out the night with The Beatles' "A Day in the Life." Despite the musical complexities of the latter on the original, Hitchcock with only his acoustic guitar in hand did just fine. (well, he did get help, from a gray-suited gentleman who came on to play the big-sounding piano chord at the end).

While the show was consistent throughout, the night went into higher gear and benefitted from Hitchcock's partner, Australian singer Emma Swift, who came on stage for the final 11 of 27 songs. She harmonized and quite ably provided vocals to Hitchcock, whose voice remains in excellent shape. Her presence provided a welcome lift.

There's a lot of joy with Hitchcock – both in his music and comments – even if he defies convention.