Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift: "Sweet Home Quarantine" Week 16: the 1980's, Part 2

Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift singing "Addicted to Love," July 10, 2020.

On Wednesday, July 8^th, Robyn Hitchcock and Emma Swift performed week 16 of their Stageit concert series, “Sweet Home Quarantine.” The theme this week was the 1980’s, part two. Robyn and Emma performed a great 80’s show in June, which I wrote about here. Wednesday’s show was another fun look at the decade, although it didn’t quite match the heights of the first 80’s show.

Robyn opened the show with a great Roxy Music song, “Take a Chance With Me,” from their last album, 1982’s Avalon. Robyn captured the elegant central riff of the song perfectly, a testament to his skill as a guitarist. I always love hearing Robyn sing Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry songs, and I’m hoping some week he’ll do a show of just those songs. He’s already done three of the eight non-instrumental songs from Avalon.

Robyn sang Simple Minds’ big hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” a song that was originally offered to Bryan Ferry, who turned it down. Robyn pulled out the harmonica for this tune, and according to the comments of other viewers, he had attempted to play the harmonica once before on a Stageit show and just about blew out the sound system. (I didn’t see that show.) But last week it sounded fine, although once Emma appeared, she made Hitcho ditch the harp rack very quickly.

Emma joined Robyn for a lovely version of John Lennon’s wistful “Watching the Wheels,” from Double Fantasy. It’s always a treat hearing Robyn sing John Lennon. Next up was a spirited version of Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love,” which Robyn and Emma changed at the very end to “Addicted to Tubs,” in honor of their cat Tubby.

REM’s “King of Birds” was a solo from Robyn, with superb guitar playing. Emma then got her solo on Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon.” As usual, Emma’s vocals were amazing. She was reading the lyrics off her phone, and still nailing it. Emma also debuted her guitar playing on “Sweet Home Quarantine” on a version of “Wide Open Road” by the Australian group the Triffids. It’s a lovely song that I hadn’t heard before.

Robyn sang solo on “All that Money Wants,” a Psychedelic Furs song. Emma returned to join Robyn for a lovely version of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” a great example of how a much-overplayed song can benefit from a stripped-down arrangement. Emma had a great solo on “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” by Crowded House, one of those songs where I go, “No, I don’t know that song. Oh, THAT song!”

The last song of the night was a brief version of the Human League’s 1981 hit, “Don’t You Want Me.” Robyn sang the first verse in a very low voice, and Emma joined him for the chorus. That prompted me to watch the music video of Human League’s version of the song.

On Friday, Robyn and Emma did their version of “Sweet Home Quarantine” for the European audience. I tuned into this show as well, because the video teaser was Robyn singing Nick Lowe’s “All Men Are Liars.” It was similar to Wednesday’s show. One difference was that Robyn played Telecaster on “Take a Chance With Me” on Friday, whereas he had played it on acoustic on Wednesday. Robyn’s vocals on “Addicted to Love” were even more animated than on Wednesday, which had Emma laughing and saying to Robyn “I love how much you love this!” New additions to the setlist on Friday were Emma singing the Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love,” which people were quick to point out was released in 1992. Still, it was a great version. Robyn wore his top hat for “Free Fallin’” in homage to Tom Petty. Robyn sang “All Men Are Liars” solo and told a story about how he met Nick for the first time in 1977 when the Soft Boys opened for Elvis Costello. I’d love to see a trans-Atlantic Robyn and Nick Stageit show. “Don’t You Want Me” was reworked with Emma singing part of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac as her verse of the song, which worked nicely. Robyn also did a little Lou Reed impression at the beginning of “Don’t You Want Me” which was fun to hear.