Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ: All my cares just drift right into space February 26, 2011
Posted by Anton A in American music, Southside Johnny.Tags: Asbury Jukes, R&B, Southside Johnny, Wellmont
add a comment
Southside and the Jukes returned to the Wellmont tonight for another rousing, rollicking evening. Like last year, they played a terrific 2 & 1/2 hour show. By somewhere past the midpoint they had most of the crowd on their feet, dancing their shoes off in their seats or down front by the stage.
I can’t pretend to be a dispassionate critic here. After six years of not seeing this band – I have no idea how that happened but it did – last May’s Wellmont show made me a born-again fan. I saw the light that night and caught the Jukes six more times in 2010. I’m hoping at least to equal that this year. No matter what kind of trials and tribulations you’re going through, if you have a taste for the Jukes’ blend of soul-drenched horn-heavy R&B, they’ll leave you feeling exhilarated and glad to be alive when the night is over.
You won’t catch these guys playing the same show twice; regardless of who might wander in and out of the band on a given night, Johnny changes the set list every time. These musicians know each other’s moves so well, they can turn on a dime and respond to Johnny’s on-the-fly song choices at the drop-kick of a hat. You never know what you’re going to hear next at a Jukes show; one night’s encore may be the next night’s opener. That is such a rare thing.
The Jukes were traveling with one guitarist last night, the talented Glenn Alexander. I’d gotten used to their two-guitar attack last year, with Andy York and then Billy Walton adding more of a hard rock edge to their sound. Last night’s performance was no less of a careening thrill ride for having one fewer of the crew on board. They revved it up and dialed it down in response to Johnny’s cues, taking the audience on an energized trip through the sounds and melodies of several generations, some now starting to fade into history. Bless the Jukes for keeping those tunes alive.
The band benefitted from the usual excellent sound mix at the Wellmont, with each instrument and voice ringing clear and distinct. Glenn’s solo guitar allowed John Conte’s fine bass work, Jeff Kazee’s keys and Tom “The Goose” Seguso’s percussion to stand out a bit more, not to mention the amazing horn section.
Johnny seemed in rare form; his voice was as rich and strrong as I’ve ever heard it, his vibrato didn’t waver. Maybe it was the month off, or maybe Jeff Kazee has found him some new voodoo potion to soothe the vocal cords; whatever it was, Johnny fired it up early and stoked the coals all night.
I’ll note a few personal highlights; you can find the full set list here at the wonderful Jukes web site. Johnny’s cover of Walk Away Renee, as always, was an emotional stroll down Memory Street. Why Is Love Such A Sacrifice?, written by early Jukes guitarist Billy Rush, was strong and passionate. Cover versions of Nothing But A Heartache, spiced with Jeff’s fiery Farfisa-toned keyboard riffs, and You’re My Girl with blazing vocals from both Johnny & Jeff, left an almost painful grin on my face.
Johnny & Jeff did one of their patented comedy routines. Johnny: “Who are all those peoople standing offstage behind you? There are like 30 people back there.” Jeff, “I don’t know. I’ve never seen them before.” Johnny, “Are they your cousins or something? It’s like playing at Grand Ole Opry up here. Hmmm….. Oh Shenandoah….” And they were off into an impromptu version of the folk classic, which flowed seamlessly into a soulful rendition of Up On The Roof. The song took me back five decades to summer nights in Missouri, listening to the Drifters on my tinny transistor radio when I was a kid in 1962. I love the way that Johnny and the Jukes can stir up memories with an old song like that.
There were ripping versions of Johnny’s newest tunes from the Pills & Ammo album. You Can’t Bury Me and One More Night To Rock were full-tilt foot-stompers.
All Night Long, their most Stones-like original tune, from the superb Better Days album, was outstanding, with Johnny wailing one great blues lick after another on the harmonica and Glenn matching him line for line.
A few songs later they played their versions of Happy and Loving Cup, just in case we hadn’t had enough Stones flavor for one night. We’re Having A Party marked the end of the main set; Mark Masefield, from Outside The Box, joined Jeff at the keys to add an extra layer of rocking piano to the first finale.
You know you’re at a Jukes show when the Lead Singer yells, “Play me a surf tune!” in the middle of the encores and the band immediately breaks into a sonic tsunami of Wipe Out.
What a blast it all was. The Jukes know how to have fun and take you along for the ride. They’re the best tonic for whatever might ail you. I look forward to my next dose.
The Church, B.B. King’s & Highline Ballroom, NYC: Wish I knew what you were looking for February 17, 2011
Posted by Anton A in Australian music, Church.Tags: 2011 tour, Church, Future Past Perfect, Kilbey, Koppes, New York, Powles, Willson-Piper
add a comment
Textures. Beyond the brilliant songwriting, it’s the sonic textures that make The Church my favorite band on the planet. You can tell how much attention they pay to getting the right sound for every song. A dazzling blend of guitar tones from Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper, astute drumming by Tim Powles and sharp bass playing from Steve Kilbey waxes and wanes from melodic to dissonant to ethereal and back again; it’s stunning ensemble work that frames Kilbey’s distinctive baritone voice as he intones a rush of imaginative lyrics that wander from wry to surreal: The Church sound like no other band, and create a memorable flow of music that resonates deep in my brain.
Thirty years on, the Australian band (though as Marty will tell you, there’s only one Aussie in the group) is still reaching new peaks of recording and performance. They are at their best on their current Future Past Perfect tour, which crossed the U.S. this month and came to New York for two nights. As on their previous Intimate Space tour, the show marches deliberately backwards through time, this year with performances of three full albums: Untitled #23, their latest neo-psych gem; Priest=Aura, a masteripiece of surrealism from 1992 with dark currents running through it; and Starfish from 1988, one of their most accessible and melodic albums, which catapulted them out of Australia and put them onto the world pop charts with the single Under The Milky Way.
The Church gave their enthusiastic New York fans three full hours of music in a nearly four-hour evening, with two short intermissions. It’s a fascinating way to stage a show: if you’re a serious fan, you walk into the evening knowing exactly what the setlist will be; there are no surprises there, though you know you’re going to hear songs that the band has never performed in concert. Everything hinges on the performance itself, and they brought it off spectacularly.
Steve, Peter, Marty and keyboardist Craig Wilson are all multi-instrrumentalists; the stage manager and another hand were constantly handing off Rickenbackers, Fenders, other guitars, basses and a mandolin, sometimes in mid-song so that someone could add the right texture at the necessary moment. On Anchorage, towards the end of the first set, both Peter and stage manager Wes Gregorace played bass, with the other three on guitars, each playing a distinctive part to build a huge work of sonic architecture, with “the divine Tiare Helberg,” per Steve’s introduction, adding a whispery female voice to the complex textures for just that one song. She is also the band’s tour manager; The Church is an ongoing effort where everyone plays multiple roles.
Marty handles the bass on a number of the songs, with Steve either playing guitar or simply declaiming the songs and working the stage. He’s developed a unique style of gesture, maybe a blend of modern dance and what seem to be a sorcerer’s incantatory passes, that paints an appropriate mood for the lyrics when he works the stage. As front man, he also delivered bits of amusing patter (“The strength of your New York charisma has made my instrument go out of tune!”) in between songs.
There were new approaches to many of the songs. From Starfish, Peter played a softer version of the burn-into-your-brain riff that underpins Destination. Milky Way was more driving and authoritative than the recorded version, Reptile hissed and slithered, propelled by Marty’s sparkling high-note arpeggios on a black Rickenbacker. Hotel Womb was made heavy and dramatic, reimagined to be a great show closer with passionate vocals from Steve.
Peter’s fluid, intelligent playing shone all night, but seemed particularly to come to the fore in the Starfish set. Tim Powles’ drumming was wonderfully crisp, a model of playing to enhance every song. As on their last tour, Craig Wilson filled out the sound on keys, guitar and occasional percussion.
There were so many highlights, I’ll never get them all. Steve’s dramatic front-man intepretation of The Disullusionist, from Priest=Aura, gave the song a new edge that was sharpened by the ferocity of the band. Ripple, a fan favorite, was sublime, with Marty giving the crowd a wicked dose of lead guitar. Chaos is a ten-minute epic that shows that the Church can do art/damage/noise with the best of them; the live version was intense, with Steve acting out the song, crouching, stumbling and covering his ears as if the sounds of dissonant feedback were driving him mad during the instrumental sections..
A note for musicians: the entire Priest=Aura album performance on this tour featured a six-string bass that looked like a customized purple Fender Broadcaster. Steve played it using a pick, occasionally wandering into the high notes to get distinctive tones for certain passages. He handed this special instrument off to Craig Wilson for The Disillusionist and a couple of other songs.
These were epic performances of deeply rich music, inspiringly conceived and executed by a band and a crew with a rare sense of focus. For my money, we won’t see anything better until the next time The Church returns to our shores.
