London Astoria
22.09.06
Why write a 3 minute song when you can write a 7 min song with a 4 min rock super jam tacked on the end, MMJ can’t think of a reason why not. Here’s a band who aren’t afraid of a guitar solo and from the moment they opened it was like a time machine ride to 1972! Think Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Pink Floyd and Lynyrd Skynyrd with hair to match.
Opening with a slow build, as a few of their songs do, the atmospheric Wordless Chorus, frontman, guitarist and main songwriter Jim James sings his heart out throughout, and careers around the stage the entire 2 hour set, the rest of the band doing well to keep up with him. A lot of the set is taken up from their last album Z, and rightly so, songs like Beats for You, Gideon, Off the Record and Lay Low sound better than on record, this is a band who thrive on playing live, you can tell this band have been on the road for well over a yearnow. Other highlights include the epic Run Thru, the sublime Golden and set closer Mahgeeta.
So if you can’t wait for them to come back to the UK next year, a double live album and DVD, Okonokos, is out 2nd Oct, and that’s right – It Rocks!
Nelson Bibb
[Photo by CC Baxter]