Jim Jones Revue - Leeds Brudenell - September 29th 2014
With more and more bands forced to take to the road in order to make a living, the bottom having fallen out of the recorded music sales industry for most, the upside is that for those fans of the live music experience, they’re spoiled for choice. The Jim Jones Revue, alas soon to be no more, will never sell out the O2 arena, and if they did it would probably be shite. These guys were born to ply their trade in the more intimate venue where they can strip the paint off the walls with their theatrical garage rock, one part New York Dolls, one part Boomtown Rats, straight out of the Hope and Anchor circa 1975. The crowd at Brudenell tonight are only too aware of these facts, and it’s standing room only from door to stage for one of the quintet’s farewell shows.
Opening their set with ‘It’s Gotta be About Me’, Jim Jones and his seriously guttural howl sounds like they’ve removed a ten foot tumour from his throat and simply stuffed the hole with a towel. It’s one part Iggy, one part Lux with a sprinkling of Elvis 68 Comeback Special for good measure, as JJ bares his self-indulgent’ credentials on his sleeve, his 4 band mates cranking out a din not heard since the Motor City Five were in their pomp. ‘Burning Your House Down’, ‘Shoot First’ and ‘Where Da Money Go’ all grab your already tightly squeezed Jacobs (insert female equivalent here if appropriate), only to crush them to the size of garden peas. JJ is ably backed by a seriously talented bunch of band mates. Bass player Nick Jones has his Rickenbacker kissing his boots whilst pianist Henri Herbert sounds like he’s been abducted by aliens from the planet Jerry Lee. No wonder Liam Gallagher is such a big fan of the quintet, presumably looking for Rock & Roll pointers.
Opening their set with ‘It’s Gotta be About Me’, Jim Jones and his seriously guttural howl sounds like they’ve removed a ten foot tumour from his throat and simply stuffed the hole with a towel. It’s one part Iggy, one part Lux with a sprinkling of Elvis 68 Comeback Special for good measure, as JJ bares his self-indulgent’ credentials on his sleeve, his 4 band mates cranking out a din not heard since the Motor City Five were in their pomp. ‘Burning Your House Down’, ‘Shoot First’ and ‘Where Da Money Go’ all grab your already tightly squeezed Jacobs (insert female equivalent here if appropriate), only to crush them to the size of garden peas. JJ is ably backed by a seriously talented bunch of band mates. Bass player Nick Jones has his Rickenbacker kissing his boots whilst pianist Henri Herbert sounds like he’s been abducted by aliens from the planet Jerry Lee. No wonder Liam Gallagher is such a big fan of the quintet, presumably looking for Rock & Roll pointers.
It’s all largely top quality original material too, save for a couple of choice covers. Sam Cooke’s ‘Chain Gang’ sounds like they’ve swapped the chains for chainsaws and of course we get the obligatory Elvis cover although it’s the less remembered GI- era ‘A Big Hunk of Love’ in a 5 song first encore full of bombast. Finally proceedings come to a halt with a second encore with ‘The Princess and The Frog’ and even after leaving the stage twice already, not a soul has left the building.
These guys will be sorely missed.
Words - Mike price
