Let’s start at the end shall we? My night ended with getting the last train back to the Cheshire countryside, as it usually does. But as it was a Saturday night, it was a total war zone, resulting in a group of sleepy drunk teens being individually slapped by fellow passengers in fear of them missing their stop. Even playing super gnarly, early cuts of the band I’d just been to see couldn’t drown out the young lass screaming into her fluorescent bottle of liquid. Was it worth it, I hear you ask? Spoiler alert folks, it was!
Tonight I struck another vital band off my ‘must see live’ list. I can’t say I’ve ever been a hardcore fan of Glaswegian trailblazers The Jesus And Mary Chain, but I’ve always respected their position in British indie rock and having spent the past few weeks tucking into their well revered back catalogue, I was stoked to be catching them at the second of two nights headlining Manchester’s finest venue, the Albert Hall.
But I admit, I did have another big reason for popping into the city tonight and that was to catch support from London’s latest slowcore saviours, Deathcrash. I’d seen the name for this lot darting about for the last few years, but was only recently turned onto their stunning second album ‘Less+’, which came out late last year. This lot have that classic lo-fi indie meets post-rock vibe, which immediately reminded me of ‘Come On Die Young‘-era Mogwai, Slint and Planes Mistaken for Stars. Totally a bit of me. Tonight they start the first of a fairly long stint supporting The Jesus And Mary Chain around Europe and slot nicely into the bill with their instant vocal hooks and slabs of loud guitars.
It’s all about the dynamics with this crew – most tunes in the set start off minimal and grow into something enormous. My favourite moment being ‘Empty Heavy’ from the latest album, which totally rips apart the Albert Hall when it kicks in, strobe lights going like mad. The band all stand in place, gently nodding in unison, almost entranced in their sound, particularly when they really take their time to reach a crescendo. There are moments where everyone locks in and it’s hard not to be pulled in as I find myself swaying with absolute purpose, awaiting the drop.
It’s really enthralling stuff – the quiet bits are gorgeously textured and tonally twinkling, while the loud bits really fill the room, the bass especially slicing through in a lovely heap of chunky fuzz. I said to my compadre / faithful Ed after the set that whilst I think the surroundings of the venue really suited Deathcrash, seeing this in a smaller, packed out sweatbox would be transcendent! But in short, I really like this band, they are well up my street and the set tonight was proper lovely. It seemed to capture the hearts of the hardcore Mary Chain heads in tonight too, all slowly and agreeably bobbing away in unison.
I had to smile at an excitable old boy stood behind me at the bar who shouted “OH FUCK” as he heard the crowd scream together when the lights dimmed ready for The Jesus and Mary Chain to enter the stage. As we all rushed our orders and stumbled through the seating section of the Albert Hall, I made it back to our Ed to catch the band kick us off with sassy new track ‘JAMCOD’.
Now, tonight is also quite a special night for the brothers Reid, as it marks the first fully fledged day that their eighth album, ‘Glasgow Eyes’, has been out in the world. Arriving to very complementary reviews, the album sees the band adhering to the swaggering rock ’n’ roll they’re known for, but with a strong electro pulse underneath it, which reminds me a lot of mid-era Primal Scream, who are of course fronted by the band’s first drummer, and still dear friend, Bobby Gillespie.
The new stuff sounds really fun, though I do find some of the lyrical content on the record a bit cringe (trying to cling onto their youth perhaps). Musically, it still retains that coolness that has exuded this band for all these years and tunes like charged up opener ‘Venal Joy’ and the moody ‘Chemical Animal’ really slot into their greatest hits nicely.
But of course, the hits really cut through here and the band give us a taste of all eras. From the late 80s indie rock power of tracks like ‘Head On’ and ‘April Skies’ to the crunchy, punishment pop of ‘In A Hole’ and ‘Taste of Cindy’, everyone is all in! From the mosh pits down front to the hands in the air dancers at the back with us, the tunes still sound as vital as they ever did and if that wasn’t enough, they bring psych pop hero Jane Weaver to do backing vocals on the last two tracks, ending the main set on the classic ‘Just Like Honey’.
Vocalist Jim announces before they launch into the aforementioned hit (in his soft Scottish lilt), “If you stomp yer boots loud enough, we’ll come back”. Both parties oblige – boots are stomped and the band come back on to finish up on a few more. At this point, I’m frequenting the merch desk, eyeing up the solid spread on tonight. I’ve heard that The Jesus and Mary Chain are definitely ones to see live and now I totally get why. The guitars are loud, the tunes are ace and still 40 years on, this lot feel like an effortlessly cool band with so much left to say.
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