Online review by Under The Radar
Before this past weekend’s two-night stand, the last time that Robyn Hitchcock played Bowery Ballroom almost a year ago was a momentous occasion for longtime fans. His set opening for Yo La Tengo as the opening act for one of their annual eight-night run Hanukkah shows at the beloved Lower East Side venue turned into nothing less than a (mostly) Soft Boys reunion, with the three surviving members playing a Soft Boys-themed set (eight of the thirteen songs were from their 1980 classic Underwater Moonlight). This was the first time anything approaching a Soft Boys reunion had happened since their early ‘00s reunion album Nextdoorland (inspired by Matador’s expanded reissue of Underwater Moonlight around that same time) and the subsequent tour before they split up again.

Therefore, it inevitably left fans wondering if something similar was going to happen. While that wasn’t the case, Hitchcock and his band, featuring Philly legend Patrick Berkery on drums, Julia Rydholm on bass, Rick Lollar on guitar, and his partner (and Saturday night’s opening act) Emma Swift on occasional backing vocals for a chunk of the set as well, were in fine form tearing through a set of songs that comprised the entirety of Hitchcock’s now forty-eight(!) year career. And while several songs from his latest album (2023’s Shufflemania!) were performed and while they blended in seamlessly with the older material, this evening’s focus was definitely on his ‘80s and early ‘90s work.

Specifically, no less than five songs from Underwater Moonlight were performed, and he even opened with a solo rendition of “Tonight.” Not only that, but his ‘80s and early ‘90s work with The Egyptians was well represented, too, with four songs from his 1988-1993 period when he recorded for A&M, including his college-radio hits “Balloon Man” and “Madonna of the Wasps” along with the also brilliant but little-heard “Driving Aloud (Radio Storm).”

And if all that wasn’t enough, the three-song encore (in which the full band was joined by none other than Lenny Kaye, who regaled the audience with the story of seeing The Soft Boys at the Mudd Club back in 1980 on their only U.S. tour) started with “I Wanna Destroy You” (which Hitchcock introduced as a protest song against human nature) and ended with two previously unheard covers, The Beatles/John Lennon-penned classic “And Your Bird Can Sing” alongside Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm” (later memorably covered by The Specials in 1981). On literally every other night of this short U.S. tour, Hitchcock has covered “A Day in the Life” and “Dear Prudence” along with “All Along the Watchtower,” (perhaps practice for his upcoming show net month in the Hudson Valley where he will cover the entirety of Dylan’s John Wesley Harding album) so it’s not surprising that he covered The Beatles and Bob Dylan, just that he played entirely different songs. And while I was looking forward to hearing his take on the Syd Barrett-led Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play,” that is literally the only (very minor) complaint I had throughout the whole evening.

Despite nursing a sore throat, Hitchcock never struggled at all vocally, with help from an “elixir” (most likely throat coat tea) he had received the day before. And if he did, fans were more than willing to fill in the blanks, as some sang along with almost every word, with others dancing in full sway. What a wonderful night on the Bowery.