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THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
+ Merryn Jeann
@ Enmore Theatre, Sydney,
1st August 2024
(Live Review)

Review by Alec Smart

Photos by Rob Mezzatesta (@robmezzphoto)

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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The Jesus and Mary Chain, the Scottish post-punk/alternative rock band formed in 1983, performed at Enmore Theatre in Sydney on 1 August.

The band, celebrating their 40th anniversary (although they were on hiatus from 1999-2005), features the Reid brothers, Jim (vocals) and William (guitar + bass) at its slow beating heart, who’s artistic partnership has endured through numerous line-up changes.

Divided by acrimony and alcohol-related issues at the start of the Millennium, the brothers resumed their long creative alliance in 2005 after several years pursuing solo projects. The Jesus and Mary Chain then formally reunited to perform at the Coachella Festival in California, USA, on 27 April 2007, headlined by Rage Against The Machine (also recently reunited).

The August 2024 Australasian tour, managed by SBM, saw the Sydney show slot in the night after Auckland, which in turn was followed by Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Six concerts in eight days – one doubts the band and crew found much time for sightseeing in between shows! Nevertheless, they put on a polished performance.

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Merryn Jeann / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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The band were supported by Merryn Jeann, a Mullumbimby (NSW) artist, formerly of Byron Bay folk band Potato Potato, who has a dreamy voice, plays guitar and keyboards, and performs an interesting repertoire of mixed, self-penned material.

She lived in Paris for many years prior to returning home, and, for those interested, a full concert of her performing at Printemps de Bourges music festival in Bourges, France, in 2022 can be viewed here.

Merryn recently released her second studio album, Dog Beach, which, according to her Bandcamp profile, “explores pop, grunge, rock and folk with orchestral and cinematic tones.”

The title was inspired by the beach near her mother’s home that has an off-leash area for dogs. Find her discography online here.

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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The Jesus and Mary Chain – hereafter TJAMC – arrived onstage amidst a dense cloud of dry ice and remained largely shadowed throughout the night, illuminated by narrow shafts of green, red, yellow or blue, which were broken by intermittent bursts of bright white strobe lights.

The photographers near the stage must have struggled to take clear images during their allocated first three songs, when the band were in near-darkness.

The five-piece band, with Primal Scream’s Simone Butler on loan and covering bass duties, are touring their new album, Glasgow Eyes, which was released on 22 March 2024. Their 8th studio album in a 40-year career, this followed Damage and Joy, released in 2017, their first studio venture in almost two decades since 1998’s Munki.

In a 23 March 2024 interview with Consequence Podcasts, guitarist William Reid revealed that the Glasgow Eyes album was delayed and, through necessity, completely re-recorded after the engineer lost or erased all of the original master recordings.

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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“I won’t forgive the engineers,” Reid says with a laugh. “In this day and age, to not back up digital recordings is just in-fuckin’-sane. I thought it was impossible to lose something these days, because you have so many hard drives that you can put stuff on. In the old days, maybe 25 years ago, in Pro Tools, maybe that could happen. But in 2020 or whatever, I just feel like it’s almost like sabotage or extreme stupidity.”

The Enmore Theatre concert featured several songs from the new album – Jamcod, Chemical Animal, Pure Poor, Venal Joy – which slot in well amidst old crowd favourites Happy When it Rains, Darklands, and Just Like Honey.

Rachel Conti, who provided backing vocals and appeared in the music video for Girl 71, the third single from the latest album, appeared onstage at The Enmore Theatre to sing along with vocalist Jim Reid.

Simone Butler provided backing vocals for Sometimes Always and Just Like Honey – the latter of which featured in the final scene of the film Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Scarlet Johansson and Bill Murray.

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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Incidentally, at the aforementioned 2007 Coachella Festival, when TJAMC formally reunited, Scarlet Johansson joined the band onstage to sing the accompanying vocals to Just Like Honey.

TJAMC are not particularly lively onstage, with the Reid brothers remaining static for most of the concert. Although Primal Scream bassist Simone Butler bucked the trend, providing a visual focus as she grooved to the music, it’s no accident that TJAMC have been tagged as ‘shoegazers’. This subgenre of neo-psychedelic motionless musicians emerged in the 1980s, and were renowned for looking down at their effects pedals.

This lack of movement, accompanied by sparse lighting and long songs with repetitive riffs, had an effect on this reviewer and I admit to nodding-off a few times in the comfort of my chair on the balcony.

In my defence I confess I was battling severe jet-lag, having recently returned from a trip to England. At one stage I was so disorientated from sleep-deprivation that I asked Rowena, reviewer for Triple M Radio sat beside me, if the band onstage was the headliner or the support act! Old racehorses get shot for less!

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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However, notwithstanding this reviewer’s sleepiness, the audience was enthusiastic and danced along – a stark contrast to the early years of TJAMC’s career when their shows were dogged by crowd violence. Following rumours that gangs looking for fights would attend TJAMC shows in the hope of a punch-up, several British councils reportedly banned them from performing in their districts.

As a young punker at the time, I recall reading news reports from Britain questioning whether the dense fuzz that overlaid the melodic guitar chords – the band’s signature sound on their debut album Psychocandy – triggered crowds into primal brawling.

However, a more likely cause of friction was the fact they tended to play short sets averaging 20 minutes, during which they often faced each other and ignored the crowd behind.

Thankfully, they’re more engaged and audiences much more appreciative now!

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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Set List

Jamcod
Head On
Happy When It Rains
All Things Pass
Chemical Animal
Blues From a Gun
In a Hole
Venal Joy
Pure Poor
Some Candy Talking
Girl 71
Sometimes Always
Darklands
Just Like Honey

Encore:

Taste of Cindy
I Hate Rock ‘n’ Roll
Reverence

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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Check out Rob Mezzatesta’s (@robmezzphoto) full gallery of this event HERE

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The Jesus And Mary Chain / Photo – @robmezzphoto

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‘40 YEARS’
Australia & New Zealand
Tour 2024

Presented by SBM

Tue 30 July: Powerstation, Auckland
Thu 1 Aug: Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Sat 3 Aug: The Tivoli, Brisbane
Sun 4 Aug: Forum, Melbourne
Tue 6 Aug: Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide
Thu 8 Aug: Astor Theatre, Perth

TICKETS

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Follow THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
 Spotify – Apple Music – YouTube
Facebook – Instagram – Twitter – Website

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Press Release 4th July 2024 (below) HERE

SBM PRESENTS:

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN
Announce
‘40 YEARS’
Australia and New Zealand
Tour 2024

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AMNPLIFY – DB