Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I recall hearing “I Wanna Destroy You” in 1980, but I didn’t manage to attend a performance by Robyn Hitchcock until last week. Hitchcock has held up remarkably well during the intervening forty-five years.
The unconventional time of the 3 p.m. show at Knuckleheads on March 22, 2025, suited the graying audience of about 250. (I paid $33.51 for my ticket.) Hitchcock focused on old favorites like "Balloon Man" at the acoustic outing. He joked that the songs would remind haggard fans of an era in which they were young and attractive.
I was startled by Thompson’s impressive guitar work and his ongoing obsession with the Beatles. I hadn’t picked up on his debt to Bert Jansch or his fixation on the Fab Four that extended to his closing song "A Day in the Life".
Hitchcock admitted that the intermission was designed to compel fans to purchase “holy relics” from his wife Emma Swift at the merch table. Swift joined Hitchcock for a few songs after the break. Their caustic banter made me uncomfortable. Saying she was tired of dark compositions, Swift suggested they perform the Hitchcock song “that was almost a hit.”
The cult artist responded to the brutal barb by mocking her affection for Moo Deng. The onstage acrimony reminded me of a tense Richard and Linda Thompson concert in 1982, two years after Hitchcock hit my radar. I hope the relationship of this talented couple fares better.
