Brian Jonestown Massacre & The Vacant Lots // Waterfront, 02.07.14
Brilliant band, excellent show, we were lucky to have them.
Issues beyond my control meant I missed the first ten minutes of The Vacant Lots set, a real shame because I’m loving their debut album ‘Departure’, especially the brilliant single ‘Mad Mary Jones’. The twenty minutes I did see in a gradually filling room was great though. A two piece US psych band featuring guitar and electronics with both members taking turn on effects heavy vocals. Granted there wasn’t much in the way of stage presence but that will come I’m sure. Definitely a band to keep an eye on in what is turning out to be something of a golden age of new psych bands.
Brian Jonestown Massacre are now the elder statesmen of modern psychedelia whose latest album ‘Revelation’ (their fourteenth!) is as good as anything they have released in their long career. There was a real sense of excitement at the Waterfront as the band took to the stage, this certainly had the feel of an event. Anton Newcombe is very much the main man and he stood stage left quietly directing proceedings whilst taking the lead vocal on most of the tracks and of course laying down some seriously great acid rock guitar leads. The band looked every inch the bunch of freaks and longhairs I wanted them to, I imagine passing through airports can be a lengthy process for them! Four of the eight members play guitar and it made me think why have one guitarist when you can have four? It made for a fat, muscular sound which doesn’t always come across in their recorded work.
Special mentions must go to Joel Gion and Matt Hollywood. You wouldn’t think that one man playing tambourine and maracas could have such a large impact in such a large band, but Joel truly does. His percussion rang out brightly and clearly among the mass of guitars. He also added some great vocal shout outs during ‘Got My Eye On You’ – I’m so fucking sick and tired of being sick and tired! Matt’s playing was excellent, but it was his lead vocal on many of the songs that added an extra dimension to the songs.
No doubt though, this is Anton’s show. His band. Forget the stories about drug use, epic fall outs and willfully sabotaging his own career, he said he was here just to play music and that’s exactly what he did for 2 hours straight, not bothering to leave the stage before coming back for the inevitable encore. Brilliant band, excellent show, we were lucky to have them.
