Monday, December 13, 2010

Jesse Malin @ 02 Academy, Islington, London 08/12/2010

This was the fourth time I have seen Jesse live, but the first with a band. Previously it had been acoustic only shows (He excels at this being a natural raconteur and someone who truly engaging with the audience). Whilst the full on band experience meant less chat with the crowd he still found time for repeating a trick I have seen him do before where he jumps down into the crowd mid-song, wanders around, sits down on the floor and gets the rest of those present to follow suit. He then tells a story before heading to the bar, climbing up and finishing off the song.

For me he is one of those artists who I'd never tire of seeing live because he is such a natural performer with just natural stage presence and an attitude that means he looks like he is enjoying being on stage (Craig Finn of the Hold Steady has the same thing)

The current iteration of the St Marks Social was put together by guitarist Todd Youth – who he played with back in his D-Generation days, and who was also in Agnostic Front. The band are tight, and they rock.

The guys played for around two hours and covered most of the latest record 'Love it to Life' and a good selection of old favourites. Highlights? : Wendy, Solitaire, All the Way from Moscow, Hotel Columbia, In the Modern World, Bastards of Young, and The Archer (which will be in soundtrack for film documentary by Shane Salerno (writer of "Armageddon," "Shaft," "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem") about writer JD Salinger based on the book "Salinger: A Biography" by Paul Alexander. Malin wrote 5 songs for the film.

Whilst I did see some people recording with their phones can't see any clips from gig on Youtube, so here's clip from earlier gig this year.