10/23/07
Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ the Wiltern
Black Mountain @ the Echo

It was a couple of years ago when I was first knocked out by the hot breath of Black Mountain’s live show. They had just come off a tour with biggums Coldplay, and were quite thrilled to be playing in a small warehouse packed with appreciative, sweaty bodies who knew the words and sounds to their psychedelic jams. I too was thrilled to finally have the pleasure of experiencing Druganaut and their intense, sexy self-titled album live, and was flying high on a batter of - music, magical brownies, and oh so sweet company. Some of my best friends who barely move and never dance, were in fact dancing their lil’ hearts off to the rippin’ tunes, with huge happy grins on their faces. Needless to say, that night goes in my history book as good times, and I was definitely anticipating seeing them again at the Echo, come October ‘07. I had no other plans but to head that way, when my friend called me up and said, “Wanna go to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Jesus and Mary Chain”? Hmmm. Black Rebel? Haven’t had a chance to catch ‘em since their gig at Little Radio, also in ‘05. And with JAMC? Haven’t seen ‘em yet.

Thinking…thinking…tick…tock…tick…tock. Okay, hell yes. So away we went to the Wiltern, blasting the new Unkle record, which if you have not picked it up yet, I highly recommend getting on that shit, stat. BRMC started early, so unfortunately we missed the first few songs, but strode in during “Weapon of Choice, and were luckily treated to a long, solid set of the delicious stuff off of Baby 81, Howl and B.R.M.C. When they strolled off the misty stage, I was on cloud nine, and this was really all I needed to have my fix for the evening. Then Jesus and Mary Chain started up. While the show was strong, the things I have heard about their live wall of sound and such does ring true… tight set but quite a bit thick and feedbacky, although it could have been my location in the crowded theatre. They played a good amount of the well-known hits, and then “Cracking Up” took me to cloud ten. At this point, after reaching my elevation, I texted my friend who was at Black Mountain, and he said they hadn’t gone on yet. So we ran out in the middle of JAMC’s set, and high-tailed it to the Echo, where we actually ran into quite a few others that dashed over for a little late evening hypnosis. As the fog wafted throughout the crammed room, the band kicked out jams both old and new, with Amber’s canary voice lulling over the heavy anthems o’ the sweet boys. Look out for their bitchin’ new record in January ‘08. When they blasted out “Don’t Run Our Hearts Around”, I climbed to cloud eleven and pretty much deemed this night a total banger.