Jim James w/ Cold Specks – First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (04/21/13) live review
|
Jim James Setlist
04/27/13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
04/29/13 New York, NY Webster Hall 04/30/13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 05/02/13 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom 05/03/13 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel 05/04/13 Atlanta, GA Masquerade Music 05/06/13 Austin, TX Stubb’s Bar-B-Q 05/07/13 Dallas, TX House Of Blues 05/09/13 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre 05/11/13 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda 05/12/13 San Francisco, CA Fillmore 05/14/13 Portland, OR McMenamins Crystal 05/15/13 Seattle, WA The Neptune 05/17/13 Gulf Shores, AL Public Beach 06/19/13 Brooklyn, NY Prospect Park Bandshell 06/20/13 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon 07/13/13 Louisville, KY Louisville Waterfront
Song of the show is Jim James’ “State of the Art (A. E. I. O. U)” from his album Regions of Light and Sound of God. I’ve previously written about James and how he’s the singer of My Morning Jacket……
|
|
COLD SPECKS
|
Canadian/London-based singer-songwriter Al Spx and her band Cold Specks opened with a unique 40 min. set of gospel tinged songs, embellished by band members playing baritone sax, bass clarinet, guitar with a violin bow, and organ. The cloaked Spx soared vocally on the title track, ‘I Predict A Graceful Expulsion’ (Mute Records) and on their finale, a modern ‘doom soul’ update of gospel standard ‘Old Stepstone’, performed acapella and off-mike, Spx handclapping and footstomping to provide the rhythm.
After a brief set change (the crescent shaped lighted backdrop that resembled a rising or setting sun stayed), it made transitional sense that Jim James entered to immediately play his new solo album, ‘Regions of Light and Sound of God’(ATO Records/Red) in its stretched-out entirety, almost doubling the 38 min. run time of the album. From the opening song, ‘’State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.)’, the show tempo was set – a space rock slow beginning, then building the arc with energy to crescendo with James performing a stinging solo on his Flying V guitar. The name of the album comes from Lynd Ward’s 1929 novel ‘God’s Man‘ and that higher relationship was one of the overlying themes of the evening, James even holding up a golden animal statue up to the crowd several times, as it roared in reverence.
‘Dear One’ started like the album version, only to expand out and deconstruct, with drummer David Givan hammering an impressive drum solo to put an exclamation point on the song.
“Hey open the door, I want a New Life”, James croons on the new single that defines the current solo work vs. that with My Morning Jacket: more spiritual and somewhat less aggressive musically, but a place of comfort and peace.
‘All is Forgiven’ brought a Middle Eastern vibe to the proceedings, James moving to falsetto voice for the ending ‘God’s Love to Deliver’, which unrolled naturally with extended sax solo, his hair flailing everywhere, to end the ‘Light and Sound’ set.
The encore began gently, with a stirring version of MMJ’s ‘Wonderful (The Way I Feel)’ which hushed the audience, then charged into several songs from Monsters of Folk, the all-star collaboration with Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis, and ‘Changing World’ from the Woody Guthrie-lyric’d New Multitudes project, each of which also fit the spiritual theme of the evening.
While we may have missed more of the extended jams of his MMJ work (and his fur boots too), this was a Jim James that was more playful- sliding from right to left stage with hand on heart; more experimental- blending his sax solos amidst the echo-y space rock and root fusion and psychedelia; and more spiritual- the recurring theme of his relationship with a higher power. In the end, it came off as a satisfying trip of a frontman embracing his ‘New Life’ as a solo artist, while still being able to exist in the jam world of MMJ, and as a Monster of Folk and other projects.
|
Jim James at First Avenue, Minneapolis (04/21/13) |