The Jesus & Mary Chain
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On Sunday night, I finally got to see a band that I never - at least after their break up in 1999 - thought I would get the chance to see live. In truth it's not that I didn't have the chance, before ... it's more that I didn't seize the opportunity the first time around. So when I learned last month that the Jesus and Mary chain were playing in Denver the weekend before Halloween, it took no more than a nanosecond for me to get online and buy tickets.The Jesus and Mary Chain were part of the staple music diet for myself and my friends back in the late 80s/early 90s. And together with bands like Catherine Wheel, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Swervedriver, and the Chameleons, they were hugely influential for the group of musicians that were making the local Denver scene at the time. Back then, when we weren't studying for school, we would spend every free night supporting our musician friends, seeing live shows and partying like rock stars. One local band I was particularly fond of would fire up a fog machine before their show, making a murky soup of the room before launching into a full-bore sonic assault. It's because of this that the smell of dry ice sends me back like nothing else. So when the Jesus and Mary chain took the stage last night, emerging from a swirl of heavy atmospheric fog, it was like being thrown back in time. 
Just days before the show, there was a change in venue -- previously slated for the Fillmore Auditorium, there was apparently a lower number of ticket sales than expected, and thus it was moved to the smaller, more intimate Gothic Theatre. It's not the most remarkable, nor the most historic venue in town, but through time it has been host to a lot of my favorite shows, and I was really happy to hear that JAMC would be playing there instead. That, and the prospect of seeing the band with a couple hundred fans, as opposed to a thousand, was A-okay with me. So first on was a band out of California, Darker My Love. I have to say I went into it not expecting much, but I thoroughly enjoyed their brand of explosive psychrock. They're one of those bands you hear, knowing full well the material is not entirely original sounding, but it just doesn't matter because they rock it so well. Keep your ears peeled for "these lads":http://www.myspace.com/darkermylove ... If you have the chance to catch 'em live, *do.*And then came Jesus and Mary Chain ... now, I'd like to say I'm prepared with a setlist, but I'm not ... I was taking pictures and enjoying the show far too much to be taking notes. But what I can tell you is they played an assortment of tunes spanning their catalog ... "Never Understand," "Sidewalking," "Some Candy Talking," "April Skies," "Blues from a Gun," "Happy When It Rains," "Just Like Honey." There was a song or two in the batch that I would rather they had replaced with another, but the final song, "Reverence" was done with such down and dirty, raw intensity I was reeling the entire way home. 24 hours later and the song is still going through my head. The bottom line? I finally got my chance, and they *so* did not disappoint .... Ahhhhh, at last. Now for the Catherine Wheel reunion ...
Just days before the show, there was a change in venue -- previously slated for the Fillmore Auditorium, there was apparently a lower number of ticket sales than expected, and thus it was moved to the smaller, more intimate Gothic Theatre. It's not the most remarkable, nor the most historic venue in town, but through time it has been host to a lot of my favorite shows, and I was really happy to hear that JAMC would be playing there instead. That, and the prospect of seeing the band with a couple hundred fans, as opposed to a thousand, was A-okay with me. So first on was a band out of California, Darker My Love. I have to say I went into it not expecting much, but I thoroughly enjoyed their brand of explosive psychrock. They're one of those bands you hear, knowing full well the material is not entirely original sounding, but it just doesn't matter because they rock it so well. Keep your ears peeled for "these lads":http://www.myspace.com/darkermylove ... If you have the chance to catch 'em live, *do.*And then came Jesus and Mary Chain ... now, I'd like to say I'm prepared with a setlist, but I'm not ... I was taking pictures and enjoying the show far too much to be taking notes. But what I can tell you is they played an assortment of tunes spanning their catalog ... "Never Understand," "Sidewalking," "Some Candy Talking," "April Skies," "Blues from a Gun," "Happy When It Rains," "Just Like Honey." There was a song or two in the batch that I would rather they had replaced with another, but the final song, "Reverence" was done with such down and dirty, raw intensity I was reeling the entire way home. 24 hours later and the song is still going through my head. The bottom line? I finally got my chance, and they *so* did not disappoint .... Ahhhhh, at last. Now for the Catherine Wheel reunion ...
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