a quick report on last night's jazz butcher show for you....
I arrived in time for the last 15 minutes of max eider's set - he
came on at 8.30, finshed just after 9. Finished with "It had to
be you" and "Drink," looked cool in shades, backed by a girl
singer and man in cardigan playing harmonica.
Middle band, Ubu Swirl, bass, cello acc & elc gtrs, drony &
velvety, Ok for 10 minutes, kinda dull for 40.
Jazz Butcher Conspiracy were HOT to match the conditions.
Pat & his bass player were dumb enough to wear 3-piece suits
but managed to survive.I didn't recognise much of what they
played (new stuff, I guess, plus one cover of a Strange Attractors
song who Pat apparently place drums for, and one song by some
guy that lives in the Alps).
Got called back for one encore, where Pat called Max up on stage
(back from propping up the corner of the bar) where after a little
on-stage cuddle he got to play guitar on a rocking "Zombie Love."
Then it was curfew and we had to go home. The JBC hadn't played
for a while, but that only showed in enthusiasm and not sloppiness.
Good fun, very hot.
Ciao,
Jonathan.
Mike Kelly and myself made it to the gig. We missed both the support,
so no comment there. The band looked very smart - apparently because
Pat has to dress up when he plays drums for the Strange Attractors!
Mostly new stuff from Illuminate. Opened with Rosemary Davis (one of
my favourites). Played Cute Submarines, When Eno Sings amongst others
- a pen would have come in handy :-)
Overall they were pretty hot - the best I have seem them, but they
only played for an hour which was a bit disappointing. Crowd was
biggish, enthausiastic and there was even dancing!
Later,
Joe
Just to add a few details: Max Eider was *excellent* - I'd never seen him
live before, and the songs from Distressed Gentlefolk and Best Kisser
worked better, to my mind, in these reduced versions than they do on the
albums. Can't remember what he opened with, but shortly afterwards he
jeopardised his indie cred by playing a Don Henley song. He did a version
("a song from Pat's 'cute' period") of Girls Who Keep Goldfish; also
Raking up the Leaves, and Who Loves You Now. The backing vocalist and
harmonica player looked like they were having a lot of fun: jazz dancing
behind Max's back.
Completely agree with Jonathan about Ubu Swirl - very Velvets, very
Spacemen 3 - I was on the verge of shouting out for Transparent Radiation.
The JBC: They were a little constrained by the size of the stage: they
didn't rock out as they did at last summer's Borderline gig. Pat looked
good in his suit, but got lost behind his shades (a bad decision), and the
whole gig felt slightly hurried (Blues For Dead Dean Reed at what seemed
like double tempo) and slightly impersonal: he didn't talk between songs
as much as at last year's Acoustic Conspiracy gigs, though there was a
good story about Pete Astor, a capo, and an adventurous german woman.
Dooj was more restrained than usual.
They opened with Rosemary Davis, the only song from Love Bus. Of the new
stuff they did: Cute Submarines, Scarlet, Ugliest Song in the World, When
Eno Sings, Blues for Dead Dean Reed. The song by the Austrian who lives
in the mountains was Stereo Queen by Wolfgang Tschegg, which Pat has been
doing in his solo gigs for a while: it's sounding better every time: he
should record it sometime.
Michael Whitworth
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