By John A on 'Robyn Hitchcock' Facebook group
“Welcome to the third night of what can only be described as three nights.”
Another very enjoyable (and not quite as hot) evening aboard The Golden Hinde. RH was true to his word in promising to vary the setlist; only two songs survived from the previous night.

Surgery
The Shuffleman
Balloon Man
Century
Madonna Of The Wasps
Trilobite
Vibrating
You & Oblivion
Acid Bird
Sleeping With Your Devil Mask
The Lizard

Interval - “I’m just going to lie down in a velveteen sarcophagus for 16 minutes”.

The Ghost Ship
No, I Don’t Remember Guildford
Terrapin (Syd cover)
Mad Shelley’s Letterbox
(With Emma Swift)
Glass Hotel
So You Think You’re In Love (I think they did this; the notes on my phone went wonky) Queen Elvis
Song Number One (Beatle Dennis) with a bit of More Than This in the middle.
Up To Our Nex
The Yip Song
The Queen Of Eyes
(Solo)
A Day In The Life

The only songs repeated from Tuesday were Ghost Ship and A Day In The Life. Surgery featured a new line “In my mind the colour black/Is all I see ‘til you get back”. It was wonderful to hear the Eye outtake Century which RH preceded by saying he’d grown up in a house with no reverb. Trilobite involved a convoluted story about how Carole Lombard would use a trilobite as a pumice to try and rub out the E from her first name. For Sleeping With Your Devil Mask he admitted he can’t do the full chorus anymore as it’s too demanding so we all sang along as backing vocalists which was fun.

There can’t be too many artists who could play three gigs on three consecutive nights with an almost entirely different setlist each night. It’s a testament to the quality of the catalogue and his talents as a performer. He remains one of the best value tickets in town. Emma seemed to hint there may be a return to these shores early next year but Robyn looked bemused. We’ll see….

Finally a big thanks to all at The Golden Hinde, a wonderful setting staffed by friendly and helpful people who made it a truly enjoyable and memorable experience. On a personal note, it was lovely to chat with a few of you over the two nights, especially Cliff and Amanda (he in a Camembert Electrique T-shirt) who told me they’d got married aboard The Golden Hinde eighteen years ago and that this was their first visit since.