Full band show
Rick Lollar - guitar
Julia Rydholm - bass
Patrick Berkery - drums

Opening act: Emma Swift

1st photo by Orin D
2nd and 3rd photos by Ramsey S
Setlist documented by Unraveling Creature
More photos at Apothecary Shed
Review and even more photos at ParkLifeDC

Robyn and friends put on a good show last Thursday (Nov 20) at the Atlantis in DC. The Atlantis as you know is a sort of ersatz original 9:30 Club, the rooftop bar simulates F Street circa 1980. When he took the stage Robyn commented on how long it's been since he first visited DC (and the 9:30 in specific, his first gig here) and remarked that looking out at all of us, he figured we were all there, "I recognize you," he said. I presume he meant we all look a lot older than we did in 1985. I'm sure we each felt like he was looking right at us when he said this.

I finally got to meet Thomas, an original feglister from back in the day, in person - he and his wife had traveled from Durham for the show. I believe they said their first date was a Robyn gig way back in 1988. Thomas has been super helpful with suggestions and corrections for askingtree.com over the years. He and I both joined the fegmaniax listserv circa 1992, when it had only been operating for a year or so. A few other friends joined as well - Christopher G, (another oldschool feg) and my pals Nathaniel and Ramsey. I recognized Orin and Jim (brother of Robert K) from the Facebook community and walked over to say hello as we waited for Robyn's set (front row center, natch).

Emma Swift opened the show and had a good set, I particularly enjoyed her cover of "Visions of Johanna". She joked that she'd leave "Desolation Row" to "Hitchcock", as she could play two songs in the time it would take. He didn't end up doing that one but did do another Dylan song as you'll see...

I thought the band sounded really good. After the gig I asked Robyn how he knew them and he said he'd met one (Julia?) from his Norway connections (When I Was a King), and one of them (I forget which) he'd met through Kelley Stolz. The third bandmate was an Emma connection.

I'm old school and really appreciated all the old songs he chose to play - tons of stuff from 1980-91 as you can see. Only a handful of new songs. Ramsey, who had and enjoyed Globe of Frogs, but has not been a rabid fan since like some of us have, was surprised and please to recognize about half the songs. All four of the covers in the encore were solid, it was fun to get to see See Emily Play, and All Along the Watchtower (the aforementioned Dylan cover) was blistering - after the song Mr H re-introduced the band as "that was Julia Rydholm on Noel Redding, Patrick Berkery on Mitch Mitchell and Rick Lollar on Jimi Hendrix." As he's done before, he closed with "A Day in the Life," played in the audience with all of us singing along (and not badly at that). It was really special, having him standing right there among us as we all sang together. Lots of people had their phones out recording and it's easy to catch the videos of this online.

After the gig Emma manned the merch booth and Robyn stood by to sign things and chat with the fans. "Sorry about the wait, folks," he said graciously as we all patiently waited our turn. I told him we're trying to make a complete list of his gigs and asked if he's kept track of that stuff, he said he had some stuff but it's "a mess" and what I really want to do is contact Marcus Slade at the Asking Tree, "you probably know him." I smiled and said I did, and introduced myself. "Oh, I've met you hundreds of times, I just didn't recognize you," he replied. Me: "I've been a fan a while - I probably look older," I said. Him: "After all these years, I should hope so!" He told me he uses askingtree.com as a reference for gigs he's done in the past and such, which surprised me a bit, since I know he's not an internet person (though he seems to be becoming quite active on the socials). I'm glad he finds it of use.

I nabbed a sweet shirt with the EYE logo and "Robyn Hitchcock" in his signature handwriting. And we got out of there before 11 pm so we could all get to sleep at a semi-reasonable hour. A good night was had by all. I'm really glad our main man is enjoying such longevity and happiness, onstage and off.

Bayard