Chicago Sun-Times
April 17, 1995
Hitchcock On Tepid Side
by Jim DeRogatis
During this spring's busiest concert weekend, the most excitement for Rock fans came from opening their Peeps on Easter morning.
It's not that packed shows by Belly at the Riviera Theatre and Robyn Hitchcock at the Park West were awful. It's just that they never kicked into high gear.
Unfortunately, Hitchcock started slow and never regained momentum.
A longtime College Rock favorite, the English singer-songwriter is touring to promote Rhino's reissues of his '80s solo albums -- which helped pave the way for the Alternative Rock explosion. But rather perversely, his set leaned heavily on new material and tunes from his '90s albums for A&M.
Hitchcock opened with "Surgery", an introspective rarity included on the collection You & Oblivion. But it was the night's most adventurous choice. Tunes such as "Chinese Bones" and "My Wife And My Dead Wife" have been staples of performances with backing band The Egyptians.
At previous solo shows, Hitchcock alternated between acoustic guitar and grand piano. This time, he stuck to guitar and harmonica (with a little help on violin from Bonet), and the set suffered from the lack of variety.
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