The Jesus and Mary Chain at SUB89 10th July 2017
Back to SUB89 for the third time this year: The Jesus and Mary Chain supported by a relatively new band from Bath, Swimming Girls.
SUB89 is the most crowded I've seen it - clearly the JAMC are still quite a draw, helped no doubt by the strength of this year's new album 'Damage and Joy' as well as the strength of their back catalogue, not to mention their "mainstream" rock credentials which gives them pretty broad appeal.
First up, as tradition dictates, the support act, Swimming Girls, clearly a new band (they only seem to have one song out there on SoundCloud) but, as their playing shows, a band used to playing together. Ahead of the gig I listened to the one song I could find, 'Tastes Like Money', which was OK, certainly enough to make me want to hear what they were like live.
As is often the case, live, the band were better than I expected with a late '80s / early '90s sound - a cross between maybe shoegaze / dream pop with a bit goth thrown in for good measure. Apart from the track above, and presumably latest release '2 Kids', I didn't get to hear the song titles as the singer and apparent front-person, Vanessa, didn't engage in a huge amount of audience banter.
The drummer's hair and enthusiasm reminded me, in a good way (could there be any other?), of Animal from 'The Muppets' and equally memorable was the interplay between the guitarist and the singer, Vanessa, on the songs where she played bass.
A good set - it will be interesting to see how they develop and, presumably, record their first album.
As Swimming Girls removed their instruments from the stage, too new/small to have their own roadies, the JAMC road crew began to finish off setting up the instruments ready for the headliners. The venue continued to fill, and after a few guitar and mike checks, the stage was empty and the house lights dimmed.
After a suitable pause, onto the stage bound Jim Reid and his brother William to much applause, followed by the rest of the band. A few words of intro from Jim and the band were straight into 'Amputation' from the latest album. It's a killer opener, given the upbeat motorik rhythm that underpins it, and is swiftly followed by an older 'hit' 'April Skies' which sets the audience mood and expectation for the night.
The main set continued through fourteen other songs split across most of their albums, culminating in an absolutely unstoppable 7, 8 or more minute version of 'Reverence' from 'Honey's Dead'. This was an absolute high point of the first part of the set, building to repeated crescendos and the mantra-like chorus 'I wanna die' - in that moment one of the most life-affirming things you could wish to experience. At one point it sounded like the drummer had been possessed by the spirit of the recently departed Jaki Liebezeit! The band left the stage to a squally wall of howling feedback and wild cheers. Total ecstasy...
The cheers continued and the band came back for the first of two encores - the first comprising four songs, the second two, with 'I Hate Rock 'n' Roll' being the closing number of their set, after which they left the stage for the last time against the backdrop of a sea of feedback drifting across the audience in waves of crystal-sharp noise.
Here's a YouTube playlist of their entire set, in order...
Jim Reid was very appreciative of the audience throughout the set whilst his brother William mostly confined himself to the rear far right of the stage, only occasionally appearing centre-stage. Some great playing - the drummer was particularly good - and a really good mix of songs made this an even better gig than I'd expected.
For the "trainspotters" amongst us, here is the set list in running order including the source of each song...
The drummer's hair and enthusiasm reminded me, in a good way (could there be any other?), of Animal from 'The Muppets' and equally memorable was the interplay between the guitarist and the singer, Vanessa, on the songs where she played bass.
A good set - it will be interesting to see how they develop and, presumably, record their first album.
As Swimming Girls removed their instruments from the stage, too new/small to have their own roadies, the JAMC road crew began to finish off setting up the instruments ready for the headliners. The venue continued to fill, and after a few guitar and mike checks, the stage was empty and the house lights dimmed.
After a suitable pause, onto the stage bound Jim Reid and his brother William to much applause, followed by the rest of the band. A few words of intro from Jim and the band were straight into 'Amputation' from the latest album. It's a killer opener, given the upbeat motorik rhythm that underpins it, and is swiftly followed by an older 'hit' 'April Skies' which sets the audience mood and expectation for the night.
The main set continued through fourteen other songs split across most of their albums, culminating in an absolutely unstoppable 7, 8 or more minute version of 'Reverence' from 'Honey's Dead'. This was an absolute high point of the first part of the set, building to repeated crescendos and the mantra-like chorus 'I wanna die' - in that moment one of the most life-affirming things you could wish to experience. At one point it sounded like the drummer had been possessed by the spirit of the recently departed Jaki Liebezeit! The band left the stage to a squally wall of howling feedback and wild cheers. Total ecstasy...
The cheers continued and the band came back for the first of two encores - the first comprising four songs, the second two, with 'I Hate Rock 'n' Roll' being the closing number of their set, after which they left the stage for the last time against the backdrop of a sea of feedback drifting across the audience in waves of crystal-sharp noise.
Here's a YouTube playlist of their entire set, in order...
Jim Reid was very appreciative of the audience throughout the set whilst his brother William mostly confined himself to the rear far right of the stage, only occasionally appearing centre-stage. Some great playing - the drummer was particularly good - and a really good mix of songs made this an even better gig than I'd expected.
For the "trainspotters" amongst us, here is the set list in running order including the source of each song...
Track
|
Album
|
Amputation
|
Damage & Joy
|
April Skies
|
Darklands
|
Head On
|
Automatic
|
Far Gone and Out
|
Honey’s Dead
|
Between Planets
|
Automatic
|
Blues From a Gun
|
Automatic
|
Always Sad (with Bernadette Denning)
|
Damage & Joy
|
Mood Rider
|
Damage & Joy
|
Teenage Lust
|
Honey’s Dead
|
Cherry Came Too
|
Darklands
|
The Hardest Walk
|
Psychocandy
|
All Things Pass
|
Damage & Joy
|
Some Candy Talking
|
Psychocandy
|
Halfway to Crazy
|
Automatic
|
Nine Million Rainy Days
|
Darklands
|
Reverence
|
Honey’s Dead
|
Encore 1:
|
|
Just Like Honey (with Bernadette Denning)
|
Psychocandy
|
You Trip Me Up
|
Psychocandy
|
The Living End
|
Psychocandy
|
War on Peace
|
Damage & Joy
|
Encore 2:
|
|
Taste of Cindy
|
Psychocandy
|
I Hate Rock 'n' Roll
|
Munki
|
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