Jim Reid wears the same t-shirt and jeans he’s been wearing for the past ten years. He hangs off the microphone the same way, half crouches his legs the same way, and has the same flinty, hard edged, ice cold delivery he always had. I’m watching him at the Jesus And Mary Chain gig at The Forum and basically, he’s still cool as fuck.
William Reid, though, that’s another story. He’s got fat, that’s for sure. His hair’s still the same fuzzy mess from before, but he also seems a bit rough around the edges on the guitar. It looks like he needs to run through the chords for each song before he plays it, to remind himself how it goes. More than once his brother stops the song while he angles his hand around the guitar neck searching for the right rhythm, the right notes. And when he sings at the end of the set it’s with a honking, whiny voice that probably hasn’t been aired out for a few years.
But these are tiny, tiny details next to the gigantic, roaring wall of noise and sleazy chugging riffs the pair assault the audience with tonight. Stories of the volume, the sonic violence and the sheer, awesome grooviness of it all have been told a million times before. So I’ll just say that The Jesus And Mary Chain are still the dirtiest, scuzziest, filthiest rock ‘n’ roll racket out there. By miles.
I’m a big fan of British Sea Power and their beautifully crafted and layered songs, which do not lack punch themselves. They are second on the bill tonight, and theirs is a glacially dramatic, British sound, warm and soaring. Significantly, Jan’s songs stand out as bright, melodic and uplifting pop. Down On The Ground, No Lucifer and True Adventures are all immediate, rich and heartfelt.
But tonight the Reid brothers’ swaggering, sneering, feedback-drenched Americana is all-conquering. Resurrection is even an more defiant, nihilistic squall of screaming noise than it was ten years ago. When Jim Reid drawls out the line “I wanna die just like JFK, I wanna die in the USA” it hits you like a brick.
The gig was a tribute to the late Nick Sanderson of Earl Brutus, RIP. £20k was raised for his wife and son.