Life is a mistery. While the Peninsula is dying due to an extreme drought, in Gipuzkoa it has rained profusely during Easter Week. Friday afternoon did not exactly invite you to leave the house, although in Andoain the appointment was capital. Robyn Hitchcockthe brilliant English singer, songwriter, guitarist, painter and poet who has been labeled a cult musician for decades, presented the refreshing Bastero in the auditorium “Shufflemania” (2022). And since no one understands this strange world, far fewer people came together than a superlative musician like the former leader of The Soft Boys deserves, at a laughable price: 12 euros.
On the verge of turning 70, his solo career is enjoying a wonderful second youth. Actually, his creative bumps can be counted on the fingers of one hand. His white hair, strong and abundant, is reminiscent of the great hair worn by other professional colleagues such as Nick Lowe or Paul Weller. The passage of time has not taken its toll on his voice, as fresh and full of nuances as ever. Hitchcock also maintains the endearing and eccentric point of some artists. He’s a real guy, really. At the end of the show, he apologized several times for not taking photos with the fans (“I only photograph myself with cats”) and in the middle of the performance there was a little mess with the cables that swarmed around the stage: “When I I was little and Elvis Presley started playing there was none of this,” he said.
The concert passed in a breath. He chained old and new songs, some inevitable hits dropped with the power and brilliance of yesteryear (“So You Think You Are in Love”, “I Wanna Destroy You”) and the live show had the merit of teleporting us back in time (the last few years). 70, the decade of the 80 and 90) without an iota of nostalgia and with an absolute validity. His current accompanists, the Spanish group Los del Huevos Band, ensured that the decibels did not drop, promoting the more rock and forceful side of the repertoire. An example: “Mad Shelley’s Letterbox”, from the eponymous “Robyn Hitchcock” (2017), seemed directly rescued from the punk and new wave wave of 1977. Age is not an impediment for the English musician.
Robyn Hitchcock shines in different facets, but it was a pleasure when she stood alone in front of the audience to almost whisper an intimate “Queen Elvis” in our ears in a version modeled on the one on the album. And for the memory of the hundred people gathered in Andoain, there will remain two pearls from the album “Ole! Tarantula!”: the effervescent and very Bowie “Adventure Rocket Ship!” and a moving ballad dedicated to New York Dolls bassist Arthur Kane, who died in 2004, “NY Doll”. The lyrics go like this: “One in a million people touch you. / How do I explain / Sincerely I remain, Arthur Kane”.
Many jewels were left out of the setlist, starting with “I Often Dream of Trains” or The “Man Who Invented Himself”. In return, the new tracks sounded especially convincing, as was the case with “The Sir Tommy Shovell”. The surprising blues of “Midnight Tram to Nowhere”, also by “Shufflemania”, served as an unexpected closure. There was no time for more. Before, the Pamploneses were fully used Juarez, a sure value that from noisy pop and independent rock have developed a very interesting career that already accumulates five albums and a decade of life. The colorful moon that serves as the cover of his latest LP was projected in the background during a concert that had several phases, with a fiery and labyrinthine ending.
