A Shirt on Sunday: Joe Jackson – 17/04/19 – London Palladium
Joe Jackson seems to be getting better with age. The latest album, ‘Fool’ is the second in a row of brilliant albums that take you back to the early years while being the work of man 40 years wiser. The current touring band, back for a second tour is part of this excellence. Graham Maby is Joe Jackson’s bass player – has been since the beginning and is irreplaceable. Guitarist Teddy Kumpel can move between genres from bar to bar, while Doug Yowell is one of the best drummers on the circuit.
The evening starts with support act Kerri Watt, dressed in floaty white clothes and bathed in white light so that she looks like a ghost. It’s probably supposed to be ethereal, but she looks like she belongs in an 80’s porn film. The singing voice is similarly Californian, but the speaking voice is from the Midlands. She’s not very good: pedestrian songs performed in the ‘open-mic’ style (heavily strummed chords and leaning into the microphone).
Support ghost Kerri Watt
After giving us a chance to peruse the safety curtain for 20 minutes, Jackson’s band comes on stage. The stage set is comprised of draped curtains at the back of the stage, beautifully lit to match the moods of the songs, and sometimes looking like coils of piping painted by HR Giger.
They start with a new song and then crack into a couple of classics. The tour was billed as ‘a celebration of 40 years, focusing on one album per decade.’ Jackson admits that this was just to make it easier to form a set list. He wants to play the new album and we get 5 of the 8 songs, and no-one’s complaining.
The album focus allows for a couple of obscurities to be aired. ‘My House’ from ‘Laughter and Lust’ is one I don’t remember: a broken man stuck in the daily commute. It’s followed by the best version of ‘Real Men’ I’ve ever heard. In the chorus, Kumpel’s guitar takes the high notes while Yowell hits the drums so hard that a stick breaks. He throws it backwards where it hits the curtain and catches there, hanging in place for the rest of the concert.
Joe Jackson, Graham Maby, Doug Yowell, Teddy KumpellNew song ‘Fool’ is a rock song meeting a sea shanty and a samba parade. The band negotiate this with ease as they do everything else. The guitar solo in ‘You Can’t Always get What You Want’ is perfect: taking the two short phrases of the bridge and twisting them together beyond recognition.
At the end of ‘Ode to Joy’ the band freezes mid action. And stays frozen for just a bit longer than you think is possible. It’s simple bit of staging but is incredibly effective and sets us up for the final song of the set. ‘I’m The Man’ is delivered as heavy metal, and ‘Got The Time’ is once more heavier and faster than Anthrax’s version.
The drumstick from Real Men, *still hanging around at the end of the gigFor the encore, we get ‘Steppin’ Out’. Jackson announces that this tour they’re replicating the original. This means no guitar or bass. Maby plays a glockenspiel while Kumel has a keyboard. The original Korg drum machine is brought on stage reverently, and a recorded bass part completes the line-up. And yes, it sounds just like the record, apart from the vocal harmonies, which are a bit wobbly.
They finish with a reprise of the opening number and then it’s out onto Oxford Circus, where the pink yacht of Extinction Rebellion is the centre of a surge of people.
The Extinction Rebellion protest was in the middle of Oxford Circus for several days. I used to commute to this spot - another reason I'm glad I have a different job these days.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/joe-jackson/2019/london-palladium-london-england-b93111a.html
Videos
The first two aren’t from the Palladium gig, but are the same tour and arrangements.