As much as I love gigs, sometimes it gets to a Sunday and you think, why did I ask to do this one? I'm a big fan of Jesse Malin, but on the downward slide from flu like many others can I summon the energy to go? It takes some work, but of course I can! And it gives us a chance to check out the fairly new Belgrave Music Hall, with its cool ideas and rooftop garden
We catch Hollis Brown and I for one am instantly drawn to their Americana rock and roll. They may be named after a sad tale by Bob Dylan, but they are certainly bringing a lot of joy to this room. Seated comfily on one of the welcome settees around the room we can see and hear this great band from Queens. We only catch a few songs but they are all engaging, and remind me of the first time I saw The Hold Steady and loved that American sound live and close up. 'Three Shots', 'Wait For Me Virginia' and their record store day cover of Velvet Underground's 'Sweet Jane' all seamlessly provide a wonderful backdrop for a Sunday early evening.
We see Jesse Malin rush though with guitar case in hand, and 20 minutes later he is on stage, ready to rawk. He's here tonight to mainly road test some new tracks, so there's not greatest hits show here, despite his latest release available tonight being a 102 of greatest hits, 'I Heard You Paint Houses', keeping records alive, and rightly so.
'Queen Of the Underworld' is the first track we hear however, and it seems like Jesse has not had a great deal of tie to warm up his vocal chords. By the time we hit track three and my favourite 'Wendy' he's on fire. He is joined by a full backing band, with Don Dilego on bass, who played as first support tonight. A guy called called Danny joins now and again on the saxophone, namely for a song dedicated to Shane McGowan. Jesse never just plays a show, he tells tales from far and wide, many with huge New York references, but this one is set in London, when McGowan asked to come on stage at his show in London just after Mona Lisa was released (his name is on the lyrics, "Hanging with the local talent / drinking like you're Shane McGowan").
There's a variety of styles, from the punk of 'Wendy' to the 50's rock and roll of 'Rock and Roll Radio' to the slow jam of 'She don't Love Me Now' to the pretty anthemic 'Bar Life'. It's at this point that Jesse jumps into the crowd and makes the entire lot sit on the floor. And I mean everyone. He then tells the odd tale of bars with everyone around him, and they listen contently as he moans about people on their phones capturing it for facebox and instagram while the band play on quietly. Mike from the Hollins Band has joined them on guitar for this song. Jesse then asks for the house lights on and everyone if told to stand up, and its back into the rock and roll. Everyone seems to have this re-energised passion for the gig from that point on, including myself who has dragged myself out of the comfy settee to sit on the floor and then get to the front, sod the flu! When Jesse bounces back onto the stage its off with his shirt and down to the vest, and his old punk days in D-Generation start to shine through. As he rightly says "Music is a lifestyle, not a T-shirt!"
Jesse apologies for all the new tracks and says there is nothing worse than going to see a band like his favourites Motorhead, and they don't play Ace Of Spades. We do get a few classics here though, 'Riding On The Subway', 'Almost Grown' for the old schoolers, 'Hotel Columbia'
The sorties continue, with one rude heckler telling him to get on with it, whilst not being able to stand up straight himself. Talk goes from the sadly now closed Cockpit, to drinking at Mojos in Leeds to random tangents of Christopher Street in New York basically covering the Cockpit to the comedy of being offered cockrings! Jesse also says that he will see us in the Spring, so that signals his return with these songs, and as he chants 'We got that PMA' it's off stage before coming back on stage for a few songs, including 'Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)' by the Rolling Stones, a punky version of 'Same Old Situation' by Motley Crue I believe, 'Burning The Bowery' and a solo Jesse doing his B-side for the 10 inch 'Heart Of Gold' to finish off. "Thanks for coming out on a Sunday night" he yells again. Damn glad I did in the end.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.