JOE JACKSON- The Town Hall

Written by Backstage Bruce

The latest album 'FOOL'

    Saturday night, sold-out show, The Town Hall NYC and Joe Jackson. What more could you ask for? He/they looked and sounded TERRIFIC! He, being the legendary virtuoso Joe Jackson, on organ and vocals, and they being the the wonderful, talented musicians that accompany him; on bass (since the very beginning) Mr. Graham Maby -who had a great little solo during 'Another World'- on guitar, Mr. Teddy Kumpel, and on drums, Mr. Doug Yowell.

    Aside from Graham, Joe has been working/ performing with this current line-up of artists for the last three years. They are also the same ones he recorded this latest album with, his 20th, entitled 'Fool' which was released on January 18th, 2019 exactly 40 years after the release of his first album 'Look Sharp'. Appropriately the name of this current tour is 'Four Decade Tour'. 

The phrase "Not a bad seat in the house" originated here.

    The Town Hall opened in January 1921. Today it is a national landmark. The saying "Not a bad seat in the house" originated there and has become the long-standing mantra of The Town Hall. The place was originally built for political education where people of every rank and station could educate themselves on important issues of the day. The architects purposely built it without any box seats or any specialized seating whatsoever thus giving all 1,500 attendees an equal, unobstructed view of the stage, hence the phrase. The outstanding acoustic properties provide for a remarkable intimacy of the auditorium.

The gangs all here. 

    They take the stage, one at a time. The crowd starts to go wild. First song is a new one, 'Alchemy', nice way to start out. We want to hear some of the new stuff to see what he has been working on. They played roughly half of it, a snippet if you will, all instrumental then launched into the second number of the evening 'One More Time'. And they're up. Everyone starts dancing and singing along.  

    Next on the setlist was 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?' Energy level of the audience was electrifying. When Joe would sing "Look over there" all 1,500 people would shout out in unison "where?" That was cool. 'Another World' with a fantastic bass solo followed. A very uplifting tune about being down, surrounded by pessimistic people and finally being able to break free from all the negativity and stepping into another world.

    Right after that a few audience members arrived late and sat right up front and Joe called them out! He said "I think a lot of people in the audience don't realize that with the spotlights on we can not see everyone in the audience very well. But the stage lights happen to illuminate everyone in the first couple of rows up front and you really notice when they come in F@&KIN' late!" Everyone laughed and cheered. He continued "It's a distraction. So if you're going to come in late, have a seat in the back somewhere." And the crowd went wild. No artist ever calls out this rude behavior. 

    He went on to say that it was a celebration. It has been forty years since his first album came out and tonight they were going to "draw from one album from each decade". They proceeded into two tracks from the new album: 'Big Black Cloud' and 'Fabulously Absolute' which is the first single off the new album, both were fantastic. 'Fabulously Absolute' is the tune they performed on 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' just three weeks prior when the album was first released.

    Next he gave a shout out to the great composer Harold Arlen. It would have been Mr. Arlen's 114th birthday. An audience member yelled out 'Over the Rainbow'. Joe responded "Yes that is one of his, I advise you all to google him." The venue has a warm, chummy feel to it and Mr. Jackson would talk to the audience a bit, not long, drawn out stories but more like quips and anecdotes, he was very engaging. There were more laughs than any other concert I've ever seen, like he was amongst friends, which he was. The people were enthralled and wanted to be on this journey with him.

    'Breaking Us In Two' was up next, another number the audience was anxiously waiting to hear and the band did not disappoint. There was a cover of both The Beatles' 'Rain' and Steely Dan's 'King of the World' thrown into the mix to the delight of the folks. 'Sunday Papers' was simply incredible as were a handful of other great tunes, including my favorite off the new album 'Friend Better'.

Joe and Graham together forever.

    They exit the stage and after much applause return for the encore. He's holding an ANTIQUE drum machine. He tells us that it still works and it was the original drum machine used to record the next number. He says "Tonight we are going to recreate this next song the exact way it was recorded. It's something that we have never done live before and the reason for that is because I played everything on that track, except for the snare." Teddy put down the guitar and played the keyboard (so now there is Teddy on keys and Joe on organ) and Graham played the most important instrument on the song: the glockenspiel.

    They launched into his biggest hit, 1982's 'Steppin' Out' and the audience loved it! 'Got The Time' followed, where Doug got a nice little drum solo in. They all joined in the percussion jam with Doug, Joe on the maracas, Graham on the cowbell and Teddy on the claves. The finale was a reprise of 'Alchemy', the full version. The entire concert broke the two-hour mark and consisted of twenty-three songs total. He/ they played every single hit plus. They did not leave out one, the performance was very entertaining and satisfying. One might even say that the entire experience was quite 'Fabulously Absolute'. 

    I would strongly recommend going to see him/ them when he/ they are in your area. Check the website here for ticket info. And whatever you do, if you are lucky enough to score tickets right up front, show respect. Plan accordingly, make sure you are on time or risk being called out!

Led Zeppelin 2- Gramercy Theater

2 0n II- A Whole Lotta Zeppelin
By Rich Rickaby
Photos by Susan Wiley

Doors @ 7, Show @ 8, No opener

So realistic- Led Zeppelin 2

The tribute band Led Zeppelin 2 celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Led Zeppelin II album by performing it in its entirety plus more!

Gramercy Theater

First off, the Gramercy seems to be the go-to house for tribute bands. Wild Child, Almost Queen, Dead Letter Office, The Sons and Heirs and more have graced the stage. My take on these acts is that they're great fun and a lot less expensive than some of the headliners today. Double bonus, some may perform better than the originals if the originals were still around to play, or if you saw them in their heyday. Sure, you may have seen The Doors back in the day, but did Jim show up? Was he sober enough to perform or more interested in crowd manipulation than rocking the house? So, if you like a band, go see their tribute edition and have some fun for $25.00.

Jimmy Pagish with the twelve string, doubleneck

Given the mammoth nature of the event, 50 years since Zeppelin II was released, I gathered a posse of 5 to attend the event. Myself, Susan, John, Brian and Bruce, all rockers, all Zep fans and all set on a fun night out. We weren't disappointed and were still reminiscing a week later.
The first stop of the night was Flat Fix on E. 23rd Street, not far from the Gramercy. Good Mexican food at a great price with happy hour margaritas and more.

Heads Up! Gramercy Info: Tickets at the Gramercy vary between general admission and reserved seating. Sometimes the general admission includes the seating area that rises from the back of the standing area, first come, first serve, sometimes you have assigned seats. When possible, secure yourself a seat. No one's going to stop you from entering the standing area if that's where your rock and roll heart is at.

For the night we had 5 dedicated seats right behind the sound board, so once we settled in, we were ready to rock. So was the rest of the crowd, which looked like max capacity by the end of things.

'Whole Lotta Love' opened the show, of course, since it opens the Zeppelin II album and Zep 2 lost no time falling right into the groove. Yes, their Jimmy Page (Paul Camp) whipped out the bow for the solo sound explosion and their Robert Plant (Bruce Lamont) embodied all that we think a Plant performance should contain. Greg Fundis (their John Bonham) wore a headband but also performed one of the greatest drum solos ever witnessed, the one from 'Moby Dick', even to the point where he was using his hands once the sticks had flown the coop. Also holding down the house of rhythm was Matthew Longbons as their John Paul Jones on bass. Like Jones, He'd switch to keys when necessary.

Matthew Longbon on bass

'What Is and What Should Never Be' followed, then 'The Lemon Song' after that, just like the album with everything else in between before closing the featured set out with 'Bring It On Home'  

It was like being at a bar with a bunch of friends where someone puts on a great album but instead of it being the jukebox, it was a live performance designed to emulate. This was not kitsch or camp, this was a serious rock performance by some people with some serious chops.

The night continued with other selections consistently rocking from the Zeppelin catalog. If you like or love Zeppelin, check out Led Zeppelin 2 when you get the chance. Tour information is here and they tour a lot! Led Zeppelin 2 Website

If you've seen other Zeppelin tribute acts, let us know what you think in the comments below.