Playing essentially the same set list from their South By Southwest showcase, legendary Scottish band Jesus and Mary Chain played a show that illustrated perfect examples of what is best and worst about these types of reunions.
The Jesus and Mary Chain played Rotunda 3 in the KowlownBay International Trade and Exhibition Centre, which is basically a glorified mall. In case you were wondering, Rotunda 3 is not the name of some cool bar, it’s actually the third rotunda on the 6th floor of the building. It’s essentially a circular hall used probably for trade shows.
One of the great things about anywhere not in North America is the ability to drink anywhere. Pre drinking for me and others all included raiding the 7-11 on the first floor and buying some drinks and casually ride the escalators up while drinking at the same time. Here is a price comparison:
7-11: 2 x 330 ml San Miguel: 13.5 HKD
Inside: 1×330 ml some beer: 30 HKD
That’s how it should be done. The crowd was pretty balanced. I would guess that about 1200 people were at the show and 600 of them were white. The rest appeared to be a combination of Chinese hipsters and Chinese people who probably grew up in England or Australia or North America. Why did I give you a racial breakdown of the show? Because I’m racist.
When the lights dimmed, it didn’t matter what your skin tone was because the excitement for the band was universally off the charts and the group came out to a massive applause. With a bit more stage room to work with than Austin, I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of a giant cross of lights that dominated the stage’s lighting structure. Jesus indeed.
Not one for talk, Jim Reid and the band quickly launched into the pulsating guitars that announced the arrival of the track Snakedriver. Head On soon followed and the crowd was loving it – people were dancing, jumping up and down and just losing their shits in general. The anticipation of the next track, the self doubt about whether or not it’s the one you wanted to hear and then the elation that follows when it actually is the song you wanted to hear are the greatest things about concerts. If that concert just so happens to be a band that you’ve waited all your life to see, well then, its one reason why bands like Jesus and Mary Chain and others should continue to tour.
Now onto the bad side. For me, the show started being not so good during the hit track Some Candy Talking. One of the most iconic songs from the Jesus and Mary Chain discography, it should have been one of the defining moments of the show. However, something was terribly off. Jim Reid seemed to be singing one version of the song while his brother seemed to be playing a different version. It seemed like they were going at a different pace. To say it was a bit disappointing was an understatement . There were other sequences of the show in which the bands appeared to be completely different pages, climaxing with three full restarts and a band meeting for the track Halfway to Crazy. This would be excusable in March but after so many tour dates you would figure that it’s be sorted out.
Luckily, the band got it together for their most popular track – Just Like Honey. A short encore followed and the fans left happy.
Jesus and Mary Chain the second time around was a mixed blessing. On one hand I got to see a band I really like and do something most people don’t get to do, but on the other hand I felt like it could I’d been better. Still, legends like this don’t come around too often so you should probably go.