Thanks to my current turbo-charged Covid immunity I'm finally seeing some live shows again, and Robyn Hitchcock's gig at The Chapel last night was well worth braving the intense wind and rain outside. Local hero Kelley Stoltz (assisted by fellow Bay Area legend Bart Davenport) opened the show with witty repartee and great tunes before making way for Hitchcock, who initially just brought out an acoustic guitar and a cup of tea. I let out a wee scream of joy when he opened with "Raymond Chandler Evening," and the night proceeded perfectly from there. Hitchcock's partner Emma Swift joined him on backing vocals for a few songs, and then he plugged in his electric guitar and brought out the rest of his band (including Stoltz on drums and Davenport on bass) for the rest of the main show, sprinkling in tracks from his latest album Shufflemania! that sounded even better live than they do on the record. I stayed all of the way through the generous encore, because who knows when I'll have to energy again to stand in a crowd of strangers on a weeknight to hear a musician I have loved for decades. And though he didn't play my very favorite of his songs (see above) I still left floating on air.
Masking? Maybe about 20-25%, which was honestly better than I was expecting. I'm still wearing an N95 at events because I might have gotten one of the variants but who knows what else is out there. Plus it's just polite.