The Jesus And Mary Chain arrived at Brisbane's The Tivoli Saturday (3 August) for the first time since March 2019.
Merryn Jeann from Byron Bay, a singer-songwriter also known by other monikers including Maam Daam, has the honour of supporting TJAMC for this tour and we watch on as she gets things sorted onstage.Even though I believe Jeann has spent time living and recording in France and is a flourishing creative individual, I still did not expect her to introduce herself to us by way of interpretative dance to a recording of raw and reflective poetry. She has my attention!
From here Jeann moves behind the keys/ synth and sharing a sample of her exquisite, experimental musical creations with the help of a sole band member whom I do not recognise on bass and keys.
Merryn Jeann - image © Clea-marie Thorne
It does not take long to tell why she is the pick to support the legendary headliners with two songs seeming to draw from the dreamscape sounds of Cocteau Twins paired with a confident yet faraway demeanour.
Jeann's incredible talent is shining through as a lyricist and poet, and a vocal prowess that is both eloquent and fierce shifting pitch and tone as needed and at times very reminiscent of PJ Harvey, Cat Power and Hope Sandoval – the latter being no stranger to our headliners.
Jeann, a multi-instrumentalist, takes leave of her keys to take up her guitar. The standout song of the set for me is 'Nun At The Airport'. The song apparently inspired by a superfluity of nuns or as Jeann puts it a "gaggle of nuns" she saw at an airport during the pandemic.
After a powerful and captivating performance, I have no doubt punters are googling her socials and streaming platforms for access to more of her art during the short interval. Keep doing what you are doing Jeann, it's truly a refreshing combination of artistic methodologies making an exquisite, musical art forms to be discovered by more fans.
Silhouettes of James 'Jim' Reid (vocals), William Reid (guitar), Justin Welch (drums) from Elastica, Lush and Suede, Scott Von Ryper (guitar) from The Black Ryder and Simone Marie Butler (bass) from Primal Scream shift onto the stage.
TJAMC - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The sight of the band combined with the first sounds of their recent single 'Jamcod', released from their latest album 'Glasgow Eyes' receives a loud cheer as TJAMC bust out this banger on an unusually dark stage with just enough backlighting to prove they are really there and not an illusion.
Mixing it up with the old from their 1989 third album 'Automatic', TJAMC dive straight into 'Head On' with an indie pop-rock vibe and the crowd erupt with excitement that sees fans on the floor moving and dancing to the music as one as Welch gives us the beats with snappy precision.
TJAMC - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Taking us back even further to the 'Darklands' album (1987) is 'Happy When It Rains' and nostalgia is permeating the air with the memories being brought into the present by long-time fans.
We then fast forward ten years where TJAMC are reminding us of 'All Things Pass' including how the cycle continues with time and brings us more new material from TJAMC in the form of the lyrically provocative 'Chemical Animal' – this being played live punches so much harder and deeper than watching the video that IMO does this beauty no artful justice.
Rumbling noisy pop-rock explodes with 'Blues From A Gun', another blistering banger from 'Automatic'. Heads are thrown back and shoulders sway, while others hang theirs downwards watching their feet tapping out the banging beats. This is vibing hard with the crowd.
Moving to even more delicious abrasive noise is of course 'In A Hole', another from their seminal classic and killer debut album 'Psychocandy' (1985), but this time Welch is pounding the tubs with bass drum mallets; that is, until the end when I see one go flying towards the roof.
TJAMC - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Now blasting us with more new material TJAMC give us 'Venal Joy' and 'Pure Poor' in succession. 'Some Candy Talking' (1985) has less noise, but still has a nice touch of fuzz paired with Jim Reid's vocals easily raises goosepimples up the back of your neck.
Jim Reid's partner, Rachel Conti is brought onto the stage to sing with him. I was nearly tricked into thinking they were going to launch into a Judas Priest number from the first few bars, but never fear, it is the buoyant groove of their hard-candy rocker 'Girl 71' with a tale of comfort in despair.
Not yet done with dual vocals, Jim Reid introduces us to their fill-in bass player Butler and that she'll also be singing Hope Sandoval's part of the beautiful duet, 'Sometimes Always'. Sublime. That is all. Go take a listen if you've never heard this classic.
TJAMC - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Keeping the mood broody, from the album of the same name, it is 'Darklands' with a gentle melody that now takes its turn to hit us in the feels. My brethren Gen Xers or the Boomers around me are no doubt transported back to the late '80s to find ourselves with earphones on that are jacked into the olds Hi-Fi stereo or our boomboxes, sprawled out on a velour beanbag blissing out to this tune. Can you see and feel it?
Waking us from our nostalgic dream state is 'I Hate Rock 'n' Roll' (from 'Munki', 1998) and it couldn't be timed any better, as I watch a group of silver foxes in battle jackets walk past me in one direction and an outstanding, black-teased hairdo about a foot tall walking in the other! Ya gotta love the many styles of rock & roll.
The band cut loose on this one and then leave the stage and us who are shouting for "one more song" or chanting "JAMC" in defiance – after five long years, we are not leaving without one more song!
Welch starts off our encore with the familiar intro with beats borrowed from The Ronettes 1963 classic 'Be My Baby', that tells us TJAMC are once again fulfilling our cravings with what was for many (and still may be for new fans) the TJAMC gateway hit 'Just Like Honey'.
Many have discovered TJAMC through Sofia Coppola's movie 'Lost In Translation' and regardless of how and why you are here tonight we are collectively experiencing a sugary rush of extreme elation with this timeless banger. Butler can be heard on the mic again and Jim Reid's voice is as dangerously alluring in this, the fifteenth song of the set as it was for song one and as it was when this track was released.
TJAMC - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Another encore delicacy is 'Taste Of Cindy'. The beautiful, haunting track moves away from the noise but is still thick and rich. The band have played it tight and the melodies souring from instruments and vocals filling the air around us and vibrating through our bodies, like a welcoming massage for all our cells and nourishing our music-loving souls.
Jim Reid is not a man of many words during their sets, but he takes a minute to express he hopes we have enjoyed the show and that is has been great. As the stage turns blood red, I am internalising a sheer ecstasy as the white noise returns for an extended intro to one of my favourite TJAMC songs. 'Reverence' showers me with a dense wall of overdriven guitars that is hammering my senses. I welcome the aural barrage like a long-lost friend.
Leaving us panting from their tenacious and profoundly expressive set, TJAMC over delivered with a finely curated selection of mesmerising goth-pop, dark shoegaze and sugary melodies with distorted riffs and huge percussive bass tones – that turned me on in my teens and is still during it in my mid-life years.
For those yet to discover the tonic of the iconic TJAMC, they are one of the OG shoegaze bands that took those feels and gave it a raw punk-tone blessed with heavy feedback and distortion on guitars, married with huge, bad-ass bass sounds from the drums and Jim Reid's unadulterated enduring vocals, yet have braved to be diverse with compositions along the way without relinquishing their signature sound.
So enduring is the music that their new album will be just as coveted as its predecessors. If you’re in Adelaide tomorrow or Perth on Thursday do it – life is too short not to drink your first or next live TJAMC experience.
More photos from the concert.
