Yoshe Watson reviews The Jesus and Mary Chain at The Roadmender
Right from the beginning - with the stage aptly set by a deliciously gutsy performance from Brix and the Extricated - The Jesus and Mary Chain electrify the room.
The Jesus and Mary Chain. Picture: David Jackson
The band are touring their first album in 19 years, Damage and Joy, and treat us to a smattering of new songs amongst a solid selection of earlier favourites.
Now 30 years from release, tracks like Darklands and Happy When It Rains still sound astonishing - the audience immediately erupting with each familiar tune.
By Some Candy Talking, with powerful, throbbing guitar lines and strobe in full force, the Mary Chain have us utterly transfixed.
The floor beneath us pulsates and the air is awash with layers of sound.
Brix and the Extricated. Picture: David Jackson
The relentless drumming. The weaving distortion. Jim Reid’s distinctive silhouette arches against a flood of light and dry ice.
As the band delight the crowd with a double encore, the stage is overflowing with an impenetrable thicket of red and green fog and that formidable wall of noise, drenched in reverberation.
The riotous gigs of the 80s may be behind them, but having taken the Roadmender audience on a journey into the space between memory and innovation, The Jesus and Mary Chain leave us with no doubt that they are still a force to be reckoned with.
The Jesus and Mary Chain played:
Amputation
Happy When It Rains
Head On
Always Sad
Black And Blues
Mood Rider
Far Gone And Out
Between Planets
Snakedriver
Teenage Lust
Cherry Came Too
All Things Must Pass
Some Candy Talking
Halfway To Crazy
Darklands
Reverence
Just Like Honey
Cracking Up
In A Hole
War On Peace
Sidewalking
I Hate Rock N Roll