 |
 
 
|
|
Listen
to Cory Tressler every Tuesday at 1pm on: |
|
Jet Jet rocked the Newport Music Hall. Pure and simple. The four sweaty dudes from Australia (plus one extra keyboard playing freak who was part of their traveling road show) ran through an hour long set that reeked of rock and smelled of confidence. These lads were in top form to say the least. Their set contained pretty much every song off of their debut album, Get Born, on the now defunct Elektra Records. Highlights included a fierce “Rollover DJ” and the MTV hit “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” What this band lacked in originality they gained in their ability to choose just the right riffs and sounds to rip off. There were points during their performance that I thought, “wow this is awesome that they are playing (insert any Rolling Stones or Faces song title here)!” Even though they played recycled licks, they kicked and screamed with so much energy and vibrancy that it really didn’t matter. The sold out Newport crowd loved every second; besides the one new ballad they played in the middle of their set. For an encore the hard rocking and hard partying Aussies gave the crowd an emotional version of their best song “Move On” and wild interpretation of “Take It or Leave It”, which was so jammed out that it climaxed into a cover of “That’s Alright Mama” by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup. Although they didn’t break any new musical frontiers with their performance, Jet did put on one helluva rock and roll show.
The funky jazz of John Medeski, Billy
Martin, and Chris Wood (better known as MMW) was the perfect after
work treat on a random middle of the summer Tuesday night. The
trio, which consisted of Medeski on keyboards, Martin on percussion,
and Wood on bass, played jazz like live jazz was suppose to be
played. Loud, rhythmic, intense, and improvised. It was confusing
to me why MMW decided to go on tour with the hip-pop group 311,
but as soon as they started playing their New York City styled
grooves the strange paring was an afterthought. All of my energy
was focused on bopping along with their jazz world flow. MMW played
a sixty-five minute opening set that seemed to stream together
into two sections. Section one consisted of some of their more
accessible songs from their ten previously released albums as
well as a track from their forthcoming album End of the World
Party (Just in Case) on the legendary king of jazz labels
Blue Note. Section two mostly consisted of improvised melodies
and rhythmic patterns that somehow transformed into the blending
of jazz and reggae during an impromptu version of former Wailer
Peter Tosh’s marijuana anthem “Legalize It.”
Most of the stoned, drunk, and ignorant 311 fans had no idea,
or appreciation, for what MMW was doing, but there were about
fifty people in attendance that really understood where they were
coming from and what they were playing. For these enlightened
few MMW’s playing was sublime and the perfect way to spend
an evening.
I have been a fan of Little Feat ever since a friend played their classic live double album Waiting For Columbus at a party about five years ago. The crisp, precise sound of this raved up classic blues-rock made my ears perk up from the minute I heard the sweet tones of “Dixie Chicken.” Waiting For Columbus made me go out and buy Little Feat albums and made me dive into researching the band that was propelled by Lowell George’s amazing slide guitar work before he died in 1979. Little Feat was always a touring machine and ever since that college party when I first heard “On Your Way Down” and “Skin It Back” I have wanted to see them do their thing in concert. On an unseasonably chill summer night in July I got my chance, and I was not disappointed.
The band opened their show with the New Orleans funk of “Cajun Rage,” during which bassist Kenny Gradney let it be known that his bass playing was a force to be reckoned with. Gradney was slappin’ and thumpin’ on his bass like there was no tomorrow, which caused the almost capacity PromoWest crowd to shimmy and shake with pure delight. As I was taking all this in I could not help but marvel at the fully developed and massive sound that the Feat was putting out. After keeping things upbeat during versions of “44 Blues”, “I’d Be Lyin’”, and “All That You Dream” the band turned a corner and dropped into the working man’s anthem “Willin’.” This Lowell George song segued nicely into a cover of the Easy Rider classic “Don’t Bogart That Joint.” I had heard bootlegs of Little Feat doing this transition before, so it was not overly surprising, but what came next was truly an unexpected treat. Just as the band finished a chorus of “Don’t Bogart That Joint” they somehow found their way into a rendition of “Long Black Veil,” which was made famous by the late Johnny Cash. This was most excellent, but the fun did not stop there. Little Feat then seamlessly moved into a cover of The Band’s “The Weight,” which was also on the Easy Rider soundtrack. I was on cloud nine to say the least. Seeing one of my favorite classic rock band’s do an electrifying version of one of my favorite songs was a complete pleasure. After finishing this long melody with one more chorus of “Willin’,” Little Feat then jumped into a short version of Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” The shortness of this Dylan masterpiece was my only complaint about their performance and they more than made up for it by immediately going into a very long and jammed out melody of tunes, which was highlighted by a rocking “Dixie Chicken”, a quick moment of “Dark Star” by the Grateful Dead, a bass solo, a keyboard solo, and a full dead-on (pardon the pun) version of the aforementioned Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed.” After this huge conglomerate of music was finished I would have still been happy with their concert even if the band would have given the crowd the finger, stole my wallet, and told everyone to vote for Bush, thank goodness none of these things happened (especially voting for Bush!) Instead the band finished their two hour plus set with another huge jam that included “Fat Man in the Bathtub”, keyboardist Bill Payne’s “Gringo”, and Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up.” After a rowdy round of applause the Feat came back on stage and played their explosive original composition “Let It Roll.” This concert left me physically drained from dancing and completely in shock that they could sound so good even though they were playing without the help of the “Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor” Lowell George. Good times all around!
|
|
