Every Indio-bound indie rock fan will be crowding around Coachella’s cleverly named “Coachella Stage” tonight at 7:40 for a performance from reunited Scottish alt-rockers Jesus And Mary Chain. No competition, there (sorry, Felix Da Housecat).
Last night, however, Pomona’s Glass House hosted the real first reunion show since 1998. And LAist was there for the reunion tour preview…
The Reid Brothers started off rocky, kept it slow, and seemed generally disinterested to be there. Or perhaps they were still pissed off at Rock for not delivering them all the riches they so deserve.Singer Jim Reid seemed pissed off. Maybe he’s always like that. Who knows? But after they had played a few songs he asked the crowd, “Happy we’re back?” Which of course got a huge cheer. He replied, “fuck off” and looked at the drummer.
Fun! At least Jim wasn’t drunk enough to warrant refunding ticketbuyers (that actually happened at the last show at House Of Blues, 9/12/98).
But what you really wanna know is … did Scarlett Johansson sing backup?
Of course not. Cheers to Cat Dirt Sez for making up such a juicy rumor, NME.com and MTV.com ran with it. In the end, Annie Hardy of Giant Drag lent her pipes to “Just Like Honey.” Which is probably for the best.
Losanjealous.com taped it for posterity:
And here, via LAist, is some shaky vid of “Reverence.”
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Yup, that sounds like the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Did they face the crowd when they played?
you mean Just Like Honey ? off of Psychocandy
cat chase mouse nailed it…that’s the J&M Chain, when I saw them, they never even looked at the crowd, they didn’t say a word, and they blew our faces off.
I actually saw some smiles on Jim Reid’s face, which was surprising. They were not as gloomy as people would have assumed.
The set was solid and they only had to stop and start once, becuase Jim was singing a song that William used to sing and wasn’t all that familiar with it. They played a brand new song that wasn’t horrible, but I would have preferred to hear April Skies instead.
it’s “just like HONEY” gum. you fookin heathens.
Not sure what show this LAist guy saw. Maybe he he had his heart set on a bad show blowup. I was there and it was a solid show for being away so long. They weren’t “rocky” but were cautiously steady. They weren’t “disintersted” but just their usual mellow selves. Jim was in fact in good spirits and I don’t remember him saying “fuck off”. Stop trying to write a story here and just tell it like it was.
Jim did say “fuck off” but it was clearly in jest. In fact, he smiled a lot. They opened with “Never Understand” and I danced like a fool for the entire set. You could barely hear Annie on “Just Like Candy” but it was still amazing. “Sidewalking” killed.
Yes, yes. My fingers wanted to type “Just Like Honey” and Psychocandy at the same time. Fixed, thanks.
Can’t really hear her, but still. Annie Hardy is the shiznit.
“Singer Jim Reid seemed pissed off. Maybe he’s always like that. Who knows? ”
Someone obviously has no clue about the JAMC at all.
Check it out, Tony Pierce wrote that on LAist. He’s a douchebag…and a liar; The JAMC were fucking enthused to be back together playing, and the show couldn’t have been smoother. I’m actually rather sure that Jim said “It’s good to be back,” rather than “fuck off.”
although i may be a douchebag, Spike, im no liar. and if i was, that would make the commentor, gary, a liar too.
If Jim said what you claim, he didn’t say it as the punchline to what I reported.
And as for your interpretation that they were “fucking enthused” – please explain how you are coming to that determination? i provided quotes, descriptions, and a video – a second one if you go to my personal blog at busblog.com
Infact the courageous Anonymous commentor above you seems to imply that this is how Mr. Reid always comes across.
I’m willing to believe gary when he suggests that it was a little dry humor, but as someone who has been going to shows for longer than i care to admit to, this was a singer who came across to me as being someone who would rather be anywhere in the world than on that stage.
if you have a different take, go for it, but theres no reason to call people liars for doing ones job of reporting what went down.
I’ve seen the Chain many times and Jim has the same look on his face as he has every time I have seen him. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but it is the look any Chain fan is happy to see back on stage. He always looks disinterested, annoyed at being on stage and messes with his mic stand a lot (slamming it to the floor like he is trying to get it stuck there or something). These are stage mannerisms – on he (and maybe those close to him) know if it’s just an act, if that is how he really feels or if this is just him on stage getting into his music they only way he knows how. They sound decent to me. Scarlett Jo was on stage with them at Coachella so I guess it wasn’t a totally bogus rumor. Thanks for the vids.
they played Just Like Candy from the Psychohoney album
LOL
when they played head on was one of the top moments of my life