Psychedelic Furs / Jesus and Mary Chain at Palace Theatre (17 Oct 2024)

 

 

Tour Dates

• 10/19 – West Des Moines, Val Air Ballroom
• 10/20 – St. Louis, Stifel Theatre
• 10/22 – Omaha, The Astro
• 10/23 – Kansas City, Uptown Theatre
• 10/24 – Salina, Stiefel Theatre
• 10/26 – Denver, Fillmore Auditorium
• 10/29 – Seattle, Paramount Theatre
• 10/30 – Portland, Crystal Ballroom
• 11/01 – Redding, Civic Auditorium
• 11/02 – San Francisco, The Masonic
• 11/03 – Reno, Grand Sierra Resort
• 11/06 – Riverside, Fox Performing Arts Center
• 11/08 – San Diego, The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
• 11/09 – Inglewood, YouTube Theater

Vuart

Scottish indie rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain are co-headlining with ‘80s new wave band Psychedelic Furs for an unforgettable Brit-rock event at the Palace Theatre, in St Paul, on October 17, 2024.

As soon as doors opened, DJ Jake Rudh, of Transmission, was on the scene to play music of the 80s/90s era to help set the mood for what’s to come.

The first band on the bill was Frankie Rose, formerly of Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls, with a brief 30-min set.

 

We’ve seen Rose many times, with the first at 7th Street Entry in April 2012, then as Franz Ferdinand guest at the Skyway Theatre in Oct 2013, and, most recently at the Turf Club in May 2023: “And it has been over six years since she last released an album. She actually completed one close to three years ago, but due to the pandemic and being a victim to vinyl production backlogs, she is finally on the road promoting Love as Projection, which The Big Takeover Magazine thought could be part of the Stranger Things soundtrack. It is a retro love letter to the type of electronic pop that would find a home in any John Hughes movie.”

Rose is joined by a guitarist and bassist, the latter is Matthew Hord of Running, Fine Place, and Gift Horse.

Since Frankie Rose’s latest is called Love As Projection, the band did play in near-darkness in front of a projection (a similar setup from her previous appearance). In addition to playing some tracks from the new album (“DOA” and “Sixteen Ways”), the band also played a few from their debut album, Interstellar, which got an extended reissue in September 2024.

Next up was The Jesus and Mary Chain, playing the best setlist of their life. For whatever reasons, this 2024 tour, the band is incredibly tight, there was no technical difficulties, no fighting, no fuss, this was the band at their best!

You see, every time we’ve seen JAMC, there was something wrong. W♥M contributor Jennifer said that the brothers Jim and William Reid got into a fight at her show at The Palace in Los Angeles, in 1998, and Jim walked off the stage after only 30 minutes. Amy & Emily, who attended the JAMC’s Palace Theatre show in 2012, said that “the band kept starting and restarting songs and wasn’t focused on their show at all.” All this can be explained through an interview at the Guardian with William explaining that “Jim got so drunk he couldn’t remember the songs. I kicked him off stage, tried to be the singer, but didn’t know the words. It finished the band for nine years, but we haven’t had a fight for a long time.”

 

Even when there’s no fighting and alcohol involved at my show in May 2017, their smoke machine caused their set to come to a stop… and as a result caused the curtains to fall down on the band before they finished the song. It just seems like the band just can’t catch a break, in terms of bad shows.

Although the band was out promoting their latest record Glasgow Eyes, they hardly touch on the new album (only playing some songs like “Jamcod” and “Chemical Animal”). Instead, it was straight up a greatest hit setlist, playing all your favorites like “Head On” and “Reverence”. What made this 2024 show so special is that they finally started playing “Sometimes Always” again. You see, the original song was a duet with Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval, from the Stoned & Dethroned album, and previous JAMC shows, they never played that song because they needed a female singer. Thanks to Frankie Rose being the opener, she would guest on onstage to sing Hope’s part. Rose would also return to sing backup vocals on “Just Like Honey” (originally sung by Karen Parker). These two songs added so much to JAMC’s set that I think, in the future, the band must hire a female opening band.

As we previously mentioned, this was a great set. It was just a solid set with very little banters, only to genuinely thank the audience for hearing them play. The music sounded good, layers and layers of guitars. Some distortions, some fuzziness, but all driving guitar with a clear direction. The vocals were phenomenon, you can hear everything Jim said. It just sounded so good, especially compared to the distinctive scratchy voice of Richard Butler.

New wave band The Psychedelic Furs closed out the co-headlining show. What set the Furs set apart is that finally we’re getting spotlight and all the lights are turned on – so we can actually see the band on stage! Richard Bulter makes use of his arms, often holding it outstretched or using it to exaggerate movements and gestures. You can just tell he loves being the center of attention.

 

Like all the bands on the bill, we’ve seen them before. The last time we saw them, it was at the Palace Theatre in July 2022: “This time around, they played their signature song, “Pretty in Pink” (everyone helped sing this song) in the middle of the set, and their second hit, “Love My Way” as the penultimate set closer. Since Minneapolis/St Paul never got a Made of Rain tour (the record came out in 2020), they group made up for lost time by including some new songs on their set, including “The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll” and “Wrong Train”.”

I think the problem is that if you’ve seen the Furs before, you can expect pretty much the same. The two obvious hits, “Pretty in Pink” and “Love My Way” will always be on their set, but their new songs, such as “The Boy That Invented Rock & Roll” is actually started to grow on me.

I think this is a great team up between brothers Reid, of The Jesus and Mary Chain, and the brothers Butler, of Psychedelic Furs, with each band pulling in their respective fans. Perhaps there were crossover fans (like us who likes both bands), but it felt like there was a dividing line in the fanbase. Still, I think this is a good co-headlining show.

Note: Apologies for lack of Jesus and Mary Chain photos, there was a restriction on photographing the band.