Jesus and Mary Chain & Peach of Immortality (review)

[bdmrrr!potomac!jsl@seismo.CSS.GOV (John Labovitz)]

Bands:	Peach of Immortality
	Jesus and Mary Chain
Place:	9:30 Club, DC
Time:	8pm (hahahahahaha...)
Summary: Pretty bad

Ok.  I get there at 8:30 cuz they're supposed to start at 8, and the
9:30club is real bad about starting on time.  Also, the Washington Post had
some cryptic remark about `get there early, because they disappear after 20
minutes.' So I go in, get my hand stamped, and I find out that they are
still doing the sound check.  This is usually a sure sign that the show will
be at least an hour late.  I got real sick of watching DeathRockers and
stupid people drinking and havin' a good old time, so I leave for a while.
I walked around the block and watched the silly yuppies at Ford Theatre
(yes, where ol' Abe was shot).

Finally the doors opened and I sat around watching videos and people.  They
were showing `Apocalypse Now' on the monitors, which is not the most
uplifting thing to watch, especially when you're already pissed off because
you've been waiting for 45 minutes already.

So Peach of Immortality finally come on at 10 or so.  I saw these guys a
year and a half ago, and they were pretty awful.  Well, they've gotten
worse.  They are a noise/industrial band, but not nearly as interesting as
folks like Einsturzende Neubaten.  These guys (Peach of I) have *no* rhythm,
just a lot of feedback guitars and a guy working a couple of tape decks.  I
stood around for 10 minutes to see if maybe they'd get interesting, but they
didn't, so I left.

I walked around some more, came back in, sat in the lobby, went back inside
the club, stood around watching more stupid videos...

Now it's getting to be like midnite...  Jesus and Mary Chain finally
appear.  They start into their set right away.  I really hadn't heard any of
their stuff, so I wasn't sure what exactly to expect.  I guess they are OK,
but nothing to get really excited about.  I must admit, I was standing in
the corner and couldn't understand any of the words, so maybe the words are
what everyone's excited about.  Basically, the band is: a guy on vocals, a
bassist, guitarist, and standup drummer.

One major problem with this band is that they have *no* stage presence
whatsoever.  They are *boring* to watch.  The singer just stands there and
sings.  The bassist has his back to the audience.  The guitarist sits on the
floor because he's got to get the guitar close to the amp to feedback.  The
drummer doesn't move.

The other problem is that they are not very good musicians.  I'm the last
one to criticize someone because they don't play exceedingly well, but it's
difficult to see how this band has gotten as popular as they are.  The
bassist plays mainly on one string, the guitarist basically strums the
chords and lets the feedback run amok (I love that phrase -- run amok), and
the drummer plays the same beat thru the whole show.

They only played 45 minutes, and never said `thank you' or `hello' or
`goodbye.' They were in the middle of a song, and the singer went over to
the drummer and said something, and then walked off the stage.  Then the
rest of the band stopped and walked off.  Right away a roadie came on and
started taking down the equipment.

I'd be interested in hearing from other people who've seen them.  Sue, did
you go?

John Labovitz		..!{rlgvax,seismo}!bdmrrr!potomac!jsl
--
Me and my girl named Bimbo
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