Firstly, apologies to Withered Hand, who were on 7.30 to 8.00. I was hoping to catch them since hearing them on Marc Riley's show on 6music a few months back, but we arrived just after 8, so missed them. As they're based in Edinburgh I hope to make up for my tardiness in the near future. You can get an mp3 of their Religious Songs from The List. It's very good.
Withered Hand were probably on so early because there was a second (unannounced) support act, Jack Lewis and The Fishermen Three. Jack is Jeffrey's younger brother and has worked on his records before - this wikipedia entry tells you more. I enjoyed the Neil Young sounds from TFT's singer, and bought Jack's 7" single from the merchandise stall (the only vinyl item available), but Jack's songs are not quite as good, or delivered quite as well, as Jeffrey's. He is enthusiastic though, and that counts for a lot in a live arena.
Jeffrey's was accompanied on stage by Jack on bass, keyboards and backing vocals and David Beauchamp on drums. The set was largely taken from Em Are I, an album I don't yet own, but have bought on the strength of this gig.
It's a shame that the track I'm going to call Mosquito Mass Murderist isn't on that record, as it was an early highlight, being the second song in the set. The rest of the band left the stage for Jeffrey's finger-clicking and hand-clapping delivery, which only added to the experience. The lyrical inventiveness, wordplay and rhyme was both parody and homage to the best rap (a largely tedious genre) can be.
I'm a mosquito mass murderistAnd every single word of it's true
Let me tell you 'bout the things that I do
You can see a performance of it here: http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Midi_Festival_Jour_3___Jeffrey_Lewis__Jeremy_Jay__The_Wave_Picture/438/
Another highlight was a track about failed suicide attempts. Couldn't Take It Any More is much funnier than it sounds, and not on the album either, but available on recent a Daytrotter session: http://www.daytrotter.com/dt/jeffrey-lewis-and-the-junkyard-a-head-collects-the-garbage-concert/20030865-3738181.htmlIf Life Exists and Mini-Theme = Moocher From the Future were definitely played, I am also reliably informed that Slogans and Roll Bus Roll were played.
The set was punctuated with two of what Jeffrey called 'short films', but were in fact him holding up large, well-thumbed comic books and delivering poems to accompany them. The first was unfinished and about The Mayflower, the second a private-detective pastiche where everyone was disguised as everyone else, it turned out. I have a vague memory that this latter one might be in an issue of Fuff (Jeff's comic) but will need to check that. Both were very funny.
The main set finished with a brilliant rendition of Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror, and We Don't Want No LSD Tonight. I would only have been happier if East River or The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song had been played, but I was pretty damn pleased as it was.
As they came back on for an encore, promising only one Crass tune, they played End Result, then ploughed through three more, without stopping, with security glowering at them, and Jeffrey clearly loving it. Great stuff.
