Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The Spin Wanda Jackson at The 5 Spot 2/17/09
Posted by The Spin on Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Check out the slideshow for more photos.
The Spin arrived at The 5 Spot at 8:45 to find Those Darlins halfway through their set, playing to a not-quite-packed-but-pretty-full house of dudes sporting pompadours, horn rimmed glasses, neck tattoos, mutton chops and bowling shirts, and chicks looking like either one or a combination of the following: Bettie Boop, Betty Page or Pussy Galore. All in all it looked like a casting call for John Waters' Cry Baby. Throw in a couple dozen hipsters, some folks of age to collect Social Security and The Spin, and you've got yourself the Wanda Jackson fan club. A perfect audience for the Darlins' haunted Opry-revivalism.
Next up were Steve Haggard, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Doc Brown, and his band--featuring notable guitar slinger Walter Egan--with a plodding set of country-rock standards that included a performance of "Me and Bobby McGhee" that was truly uncalled for, almost as uncalled for as the dizzying amount of PDA going on in the crowd. Seriously, everywhere you looked there were couples necking like the bomb was about to drop.
After a brief intermission Haggard and his band, who would be backing Mrs. Jackson, returned with a few more numbers before the "queen of rock" was introduced onto the stage, busting right out of the gate with the late '50s classic "Mean Mean Man." The revival had begun. The crowd mobbed against the stage and showered the pint-sized Jackon--decked out in sparkles and big hair--with all the affection of appreciative grandchildren, eagerly salivating for a first hand account of rock 'n' roll history.
And that is exactly what they got as the show took on a bit of an anecdotal VH1 Storytellers format, with Jackson knocking out classic after classic, from her country/rock hybrid "I Gotta Know," her indelible rockabilly classics like "Hard Headed Woman" and "Fujiyama" Mama," a gospel sing-along of "I Saw the Light" and a slew of Sun-era Elvis classics from her 2006 tribute album I Remember Elvis, among others. All performed with the moxie of her youth, as if not a day had passed since the golden age of radio. Her voice still cutting like a knife. Equally cutting was her wit, as she never ceased to keep the crowd in stitches with her whip-smart between-song bon mots.
In last week's interview with the Scene Jackson spoke with delight about how "20- and 30-somethings are really into rockabilly and the '50s rock music. They're so much fun because they know all these songs, and it really is strange to see all these young faces and they're all singing along." It is for this reason that the show had a greater feeling of relevance than nostalgia. Most of people there had never been to a real sock-hop before. As the youngsters drunkenly danced and shouted along to "There's a Riot Goin' On," that's what this show was. A uniquely touching semblance of Generation Y and the Greatest Generation ensued as the show came to a close, with smiles all around.
Comments (3)
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Neatest show I've seen in a hot minute. It was great to see the Darlins & the Garland Sisters and other young'uns of that ilk getting down to someone who is so clearly enormously influential. Two thumbs up.
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