Live Review: Robyn Hitchcock at Athenaeum Center • Chicago

Brassneck | April 13, 2026 | 0 Comments

Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock

Athenaeum Center

Chicago, IL

April 10, 2026

Review and photos by Jeff Elbel

Pop surrealist Robyn Hitchcock has been good to his devotees in Chicago, making regular visits to town with his engaging one-man shows. On Friday, fans got a special treat when the English musician and former Soft Boys frontman stopped at the Athenaeum Center, supported by a terrific three-piece rock band of Nashville-based friends. For those who fondly remembered tours to the region for albums including Perspex Island and Jewels to Sophia, it was a throwback to the chiming sound of yore and a closer reflection of Hitchcock’s recorded output in recent work like 2022’s Shufflemania! The show also served to raise awareness and introduce a pair of songs ahead of the upcoming album The Confuser.

The set began with Hitchcock’s solo performance of “I Often Dream of Trains,” played on a polka-dot Fender Telecaster to match his polka-dot shirt. He was soon joined by lead guitarist Jeremy Fetzer (Steelism, Caitlin Rose), ace session bassist Todd Bolden, and drummer Eric Slick (Dr. Dog, Adrian Belew Power Trio), the three musicians who populate the arrangements of The Confuser. Based upon the band’s effervescent interplay with Hitchcock, whether channeling the Egyptians on “Balloon Man” or the Soft Boys on “Kingdom of Love,” The Confuser promises to be a prime set of 21st-century jangle-rock. New single “I Am This Thing” was a propulsive statement of self, recognizing the transient nature of existence and the potential for joy in the process.

As ever, Hitchcock blended the psychedelic pop of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett with Dali-esque imagery and the literate (if lunatic) wordplay of Bob Dylan. His stream-of-consciousness anecdotes and stories were worthwhile companions to the music. “As you can probably tell by my accent, I’m not from around here,” said the London native. “I’m from Tennessee.” The singer painted a portrait of his adopted homeland in “America” from the 1982 album Groovy Decay, while Bolden played the late Matthew Seligman’s bubbling, McCartney-ish bass line over Slick’s exotic rhythm. Fetzer added early electric Dylanesque twang to “The Shuffle Man.”

“I’ve been a folk singer for hundreds and hundreds of years,” said Hitchcock, explaining that crowd favorite “Madonna of the Wasps” was written in the key of D in the pattern of other folk-rock heroes including the Byrds. Soon afterward, he reminisced about his first time headlining in Chicago, performing at Metro more than 40 years ago. To the audience’s cheers, he added, “I suppose you were all there? I thought you looked familiar.”

At least initially, Hitchcock skirted political statements except in metaphor. While introducing “Alright, Yeah,” he spoke about the current climate. “We’ve got the Joker, and we don’t have a Batman,” he said. He soon edited himself, saying that as a Pisces, he wasn’t equipped to deal with reality.

Hitchcock’s partner and opening artist Emma Swift joined the band for a set of sparkling rockers, including the sublime psych-pop drone of “Oceanside” and the Soft Boys’ “Queen of Eyes.” “Flesh Number One” was recast as a medley incorporating Roxy Music’s “More Than This.” Afterward, the Hitchcocks traded quips about an ocean journey accompanying Bryan Ferry in a bathtub.

The players more than proved their worth during Hitchcock’s “Autumn Sunglasses” and the Soft Boys’ “Insanely Jealous.” Hypnotic The Confuser song “My Dead Astronaut” was happily not directly applicable to the day, which had just earlier seen the successful splashdown of Artemis II with all four NASA astronauts alive and thriving. Fetzer and Hitchcock played sinewy, intertwining guitar lines between verses. Bolden sang high harmony to Hitchcock while keeping a taut groove with Slick.

Hitchcock unleashed his barbs directly at the administration ahead of the Soft Boys’ best-loved single, describing “I Wanna Destroy You” as a song that was originally a “protest song against the destructive impulse in the human being.” To cheers of agreement, Hitchcock explained that the song currently served as a protest against divisive government policies and “how contagious hatred is, and how hard it is to get rid of it once it’s unleashed.” The band tore through the song with energy and abandon. Hitchcock altered a line to cast “a pox upon Fox media.”

The show’s final segment was an encore, for which the band had never left the stage. Hitchcock announced a series of tributes to “dead British songwriters” that he treasured. First came “Soul Love” from David Bowie’s album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Next was an on-the-nose performance of Syd Barrett’s “See Emily Play” from Pink Floyd’s genre-defining psychedelic rock debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, released during the year examined by Hitchcock’s 2024 memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. John Lennon’s “Dear Prudence” was drawn from The Beatles’ self-titled white album. The still-living and touring Dylan received tribute from Jimi Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower,” featuring spellbinding solos from guest and Swift accompanist Rick Lollar.

Following bows and goodbyes by the band, Hitchcock came into the crowd with his acoustic guitar to lead a sing-along of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life.” It was another touchstone to that pivotal year of 1967. The song offered a final moment of connection with the crowd that felt moving and personal. It was a reminder of the intimate power of those frequent solo shows. Still, fans can hope that Hitchcock returns with this lineup once The Confuser has been released into the wild.

The evening began with a brief but captivating set by Swift, featuring tender songs from her recent release The Resurrection Game. The symphonic grandeur of the album’s “Nothing and Forever” was made more intimate by presenting Swift’s lilting melody with the minimal adornment of Lollar’s spacious electric guitar. “Somewhere between nothing and forever,” sang Swift in the emotional torch ballad. “That’s you and me.” The album’s title cut depicted a tempestuous relationship, with the image of “breathing in fire and calling it air.” Swift paused to explain herself to the crowd. “I’m naturally an optimist,” she said, “but I married a nihilist. I didn’t know it was a sexually transmitted disease.” Swift explained “No Happy Endings” as a song about trying to reconcile those extremes. “There are no happy endings, but baby, I’m trying,” she sang. With its keening soprano melody, “Beautiful Ruins” was played in answer to a fan’s request. Swift’s set concluded with a pair of cover songs. First was a Bob Dylan song not included on her 2020 homage to Blonde on the Tracks. Lollar stretched his guitar lines into nimble jazz-influenced figures as Swift wrung the pathos and resignation from “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” The final song was a riveting torch-blues interpretation of Prince’s bereft, heartbroken “Nothing Compares 2 U.”