Live Review: The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Concorde2, Brighton 01/02/2023
The critically acclaimed space-rock group off to fiery start to UK tour as tensions rose in front of a sell-out crowd.
Performing their third set in three nights at Concorde 2 in Brighton, and what is their fifth out of eleven consecutive nights of shows across the UK, it is no surprise that some on-stage nerves were at show.
A stupendous start to the show put on full display the surreal layering of guitar tones, the superb drumming, and the famous fuzzy quality that has led them through their 33 years together. It was not long before someone in the audience yelled “louder”, lead singer Anton Newcombe dismissing the call, stating proudly that he prefers “symphonic, not moronic”.
As the San Franciscan’s played through the beautifully crafted setlist, which contained some of their most popular work since their formation in 1990 to their newest dive into the psychedelic genre, a missing lyric sheet led to an on-stage argument between Newcombe and tambourine player Joel Gion.
The matter lasted a few minutes as Newcombe instructed the band to keep playing without Joel’s presence, before the crowd cheered him back onto the stage. After this occurrence emotions ran high within the group, as the tension between them became vividly apparent to the crowd as Newcombe dissected his fellow bandmates between every song.
The peak of this tension came when Newcombe stopped a song halfway through, claiming that the group were playing like “a bunch of old people”, and pointing out that he would rather stop a song being played badly then play it to its’ entirety.
Although this was beginning to seem like a very amateur state of affairs for such a high-prestige and long-running band such as Jonestown, they showed their maturity in their performances with a sound that so distinctly evokes a musical era which came to life so many years ago.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre head to the Northern U.K for the next few days, amidst an album release on the 2nd of February, their 20th full length release.
Words by Jay Cohen
