Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Spin The Jesus Lizard at Exit/In 7/14/09
Posted by The Spin on Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 11:53 AM
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Excitement levels were clearly running high as we watched throngs of people descend upon the Rock Block Tuesday night to catch The Jesus Lizard's first U.S. show in more than a decade. We took the fact we hadn't seen this many Nirvana, Melvins or Shellac shirts at a show since before our balls had dropped as a good sign of things to come. Like the rest of the crowd, who had come from far and wide, we were ready to party like it was 1999--or '91.
Openers Pine Hill Haints, who hail from Huntsville, Ala., were more enjoyable than your garden variety rockabilly ensemble. Acoustic-based, they had a bit of a Celtic sound infused with their loose, insert-whiskey-referencing-cliche-here feel. While their set was appreciated by the crowd, it felt more like waiting room music as people were enraptured in anticipation of the main event.
Luckily it wasn't long before David Yow led the band onstage and told the topical bon mot: "What's the difference between Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson? ....About 5 hours." Then the band launched into the opening one-two punch of "Puss" into "Seasick." Can you say "holy shit"?
When guitarist Duane Denison told the Scene in a recent interview that singer "David Yow has been flying through the air with reckless abandon" at the band's recent reunion shows, he wasn't kidding. From the get-go, Yow was flailing all over the stage like a man possessed. Hawking lugees, blowing snot rockets and constantly leaping into the arms of the crowd who would swallow him whole--some of those leaps being somersaults--it seemed like Yow spent as much time being passed around (yes, crowd-surfing) as he did onstage.
And the band? They sounded tighter than a Republican's asshole. Denison, as expected, played like the Yngwie Malmsteen of noise-rock guitar while drummer Mac McNeilly mercilessly pounded out the beats like a factory machine and David Wm. Sims Bass playing churned our bowels. In both sound and spirit it was as if not a day had past since the band broke up.
While many in this sold-out crowd had clearly come in from out of town to see this show, we did notice many familiar faces acting in a way we've never seen them act before. This is what it's like when Nashville gets passionate, and it rocks. A comical moment came during "Then Comes Dudley," when a rather round security guard ran across the stage to eject one unruly fan who was able to briefly escape his clutches, causing a Looney Tunes-like game of cat and mouse that ended with a hilarious banana-peel fall by the security guard, amusing band members and crowd alike.
The show went on for about an hour-and-a-half, covering all the best bases of the band's catalog, focusing mainly on their Touch and Go releases and featuring such classics as "Mouth Breather," "Chrome," "Boiler Maker," "Destroy Before Reading," "Nub," "Gladiator," "Thumbscrews," and The Spin's favorite "Monkey Trick." There was never a dull moment and each song sounded--as intended--like pure evil. Years from now people will be saying, "Remember Jesus Lizard in the summer of '09, now that was a fuckin' show!" We even bought a T-shirt. Then we made our way out of the club, drenched in sweat, and watched the Elliston Place foot traffic, as people went about their pathetic, Jesus Lizard-less lives.
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
pine hill haints rule it - though, i haven't heard anything of their new stuff in some time.
i'm also biased since their singer/guitarist was putting out my band's records way back in 1998.
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The show was epic. I showed up right before 10 pm and thought I was about to see the opening band, but it was JL instead on at 10:15 PM - Holy shit.
Yow was at the sound board after Puss and someone handed him a shot of something strong and he threw directly at the person standing next to me spraying my arm. Glad I d idn't get pulled over on the way home, I didn't have time to get drunk but sure smelt like I was!
Pine Hill Haints get better and better. Great band.... but... THE JESUS LIZARD WAS ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING!!!!! Best show I've seen in a long time!
What a show! I got David Yow sweat on me!
Also, remember when Yow was like "I don't understand you weird hillbillies," & then later accused all southerners of being racist against Mexicans? I LOL'd.
I liked when he said something along the lines of "Thank you Austin! Live music capitol of the world."
Yow tongue kissed me. He also bashed my friends head with the mic for spitting on him, saying "I won't spit on you if you don't spit on me." This was the best show I have ever been to.
Can anyone help with the set list? I spaced at times and forgot to write it down. the --- means i don't remember.
Puss
Seasick
Boilermaker
Gladiator
---
Mouth Breather
Blue Shot
Glamorous
---
---
Then Comes Dudley
---
Nub
Blockbuster
Monkey Trick
---
**encore
Thumbscrews
Fly on the wall
My own Urine
Dancing Naked Ladies
Bloody Mary
---
after gladiator they played a track from Down but can't remember the name.
wasn't rabid pigs and killer mchann before dudley?
then 7 vs. 8 prior to encore
i can't remember exactly either...
Yes, it was a great show! But this blog's description of Duane Denison as the Yngwie Malmsteen of noise rock is innaccurate. The Yngwie of noise rock could maybe be bestowed upon thurston moore, but i didn't hear duane do anything remotely resembling noise or feedback. He's a quite tempered guitarist, actually. maybe the yngwie of post rock but not noise rock. leave that to
keiji haino, bruce russell of the dead c, or
countless other guys who actually play noise rock...
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