Robyn Hitchcock’s tour hit NYC over the weekend for a show at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday (4/1). It was slightly different than announced, as Kelley Stoltz, who was set to both open and drum in Robyn’s band, tested positive for Covid, along with Bart Davenport. Luckily, bassist Julia Rydholm of The Ladybug Transistor and drummer Patrick Berkery (Strand of Oaks, War on Drugs) were on hand to pick up the slack, along with Fastbacks/Young Fresh Fellows guitarist Kurt Bloch.

While Kelley Stoltz is great and rarely plays the East Coast, this ended up being a treat as Robyn opened up for himself with an acoustic set featuring his partner Emma Swift and such classics as “Balloon Man,” “My Wife and My Dead Wife,” “The Lizard,” “One Long Pair of Eyes,” a cover of Dylan’s “She Belongs to Me,” and more.

Robyn’s full-band set included Soft Boys’ “Queen of Eyes” and “I Wanna Destroy You” as well as “Madonna of the Wasps,” “Airscape,” “The Shuffle Man” (from last year’s great Shufflemania!), “Brenda’s Iron Sledge,” “Viva! Sea-Tac,” and more. He closed out the show by bringing Swift back out for a sweet rendition of “So You Think You’re in Love.”

Check out photos of the whole night by P Squared, along with the setlist and video, below.

SETLIST: Robyn Hitchcock at Bowery Ballroom 4/1/2023
acoustic set
Serpent at the Gates of Wisdom
She Belongs to Me (Bob Dylan cover)
My Wife and My Dead Wife
Balloon Man
The Inner Life of Scorpio
The Lizard
The Yip Song
One Long Pair of Eyes
The Man Who Loves the Rain
Glass Hotel
Up to Our Nex

electric set
The Shuffle Man
Queen of Eyes
Madonna of the Wasps
Virginia Woolf
Goodnight Oslo
Brenda’s Iron Sledge
Sally Was a Legend
The Sir Tommy Shovell
Viva! Sea-Tac
I Wanna Destroy You
Mad Shelley’s Letterbox
Airscape

Encore:
Flesh Number One
Oceanside
So You Think You’re in Love