Gig Reviews - April 1, 2002 St. Ann's Warehouse - Brooklyn, NY

Just got back!!! & Spoiler-for peeps going later in the week!

posted to The Only Message Board That Matters by Eleanor

Hi Guys! It was a fantastic show...man oh man!! I brought a friend along with me who had never seen them before and she had the time of her life too. Great crowd, and very nice, laid back venue. The guys started off with an interesting three song combo, that was a little surprising: opening with a very soulful version of Yalla Yalla, then breaking into London's Burning, then into Shaktar Donesk!

After that they loosened up much more and rocked with Cool'n' Out and Global A Go Go. There were many touching moments. Joe mentioned how nicer it was to be in Brooklyn, and someone threw a sign written on cardboard reading "Welcome to our humble neighborhood". On the back of it was written "Go Tymon Go!" Tymon was thrilled with it and they displayed it onstage.

Okay, now its time to jump to the highlights!

So, what do you want to hear first???

Do you want to hear Tymon played Lose this Skin?? He did, and it was sublime, amazing! When Joe introduced the song, he mentioned that it was recorded on the day exactly 22 years ago. After all this time, to hear him singing and playing this song was really something. He broke two fiddle strings on it, he was playing it so hard. And even with only two strings left, he still sounded beautiful backing Joe and the band up on Lou Reed's Take a Walk on the Wild Side! That's right folks, Joe sang it terrifically- what a surprise that was, and they really did justice to it.

That's not all though-- the boys brought out a fantastic number called something like CapeTown Moses, that TOTALLY, I mean TOTALLY grooved!! The lyrics are absolutely mad! Joe Joe really is having a good time with this one-- sort of like a satire on the whole Moses/religion thing. And the band was elated playing it!

On a side note, but so exciting that it can't wait, Mick Jones was in the audience (in the back) grooving to the music!! And some lucky people who recognized him (like moi!) at the end of the show)spoke a moment or two with him and shook his hand. =) Now that was something totally unexpected! Mick btw, was dressed very dapperly with black pants, white shirt and necktie. He was very, very sweet and seemed thrilled to be there.

Other news: Before Joe and band went into The Harder they Come, he stated that he was in the recording studio with Jimmy Cliff just two weeks ago and they penned something together. He said that if the song they wrote was half as good as this one, then it would really be something. (they didn't play that song btw- yet)

Well, besides the songs I mentioned already, the other songs they played were Johnny Appleseed (with what seemed to be an extended intro), Junco Partner, Police and Thieves, Police on My Back, Rudy Can't Fail, Pressure Drop, Tony Adams, Mega Bottle Ride, Bummed Out City, Blitzkreig Bop, White Riot (closer) I'm sure I left out at least one song, so I'll try to remember and give another setlist in order, and think of other things that happened during the evening In the meantime, I'll post this. =)

Joe Show Monday

posted to Satch's Discussion Board by CK

I am getting over a nasty respitory infection so I was not up to Rocking and Rolling. It did give me the chance to stand and pay attention however. I met Mick and told him I was a friend of Teddy's. Mick wasn't super friendly. He and Joe seem so different. It's no accident they never reunited.

Here's the set list and comments

Yalla Yalla- Great version- incredibly tight, surprising opener

London's Burning- standard run through well done

Shaktar Donetsk- excellent version-more power in the guitars on all of the Global songs this night- hopefully a trend

Tony Adams- Good playing, but I am sick of this song now

Rudie Can't Fail- High energy rendition

Cool 'n' Out- Incredibly aggressive playing- started with a jam session- super high energy- much more aggressive than the album

Global a Go-Go- same as above

Police & Thieves- Good playing, reminsicent of early Clash

Junco Partner- New Orleans style well played

Get Down Moses- Only new song of the night- but absolutely incredible- sort of a Bob Marley Reggae number with Heavy Metal power chords- not sure if this is an original or cover

Bummed Out City- Good Version, shorter than last tours'

White Man in Hammersmith Palais- couple of flubs but very well played

The Harder They Come- Same as the tour

Mega Bottle Ride-- Much better than last years version- longer more high energy

Johnny Appleseed- better playing more Bo Diddley

Pressure Drop- on the sloppy side but the crowd loved it

Police on My Back--same as tour but the band seemed to be coming apart with all the guitars going- some songs had four guitars on them

I Fought the Law-- good job, but lousy soloing

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Lose This Skin (!!!)-- Tymon seemed out of sorts last night- kind of confused - fun version but I think he had stage fright- messed up his fiddle

Walk on the Wild Side(!!)-- spot on cover- really funny

Blitzkrieg Bob-- How can Joe remember all the lyrics to WOTWS and forget the four or five lines to this song? sloppy Punk Rock again

White Riot-- sloppy- the Meskies aren't a Punk band

All the Punk stuff and the four guitars going might appeal to Clash 2 fans- but the Meskies are musos, not Punks and don't play Punk well- though Luke is definitely Pete Howard's equal- his playing just gets better every time I see him. All the other material was fantastic, however. Place was full, surprising for a Monday of a 5 night stand- The Meskies really are the Grateful Dead of Punk-sort of a traveling subculture for old Punks and kids who missed the first go-around. It was funny seeing how middle aged a lot of the crowd was. Lots of grey hair- but Joe is better than ever onstage. Very loose and energetic- lots of banter and quips. Look for tapes- I was going to tape, but I felt like shit and didn't want to risk having to go home if I was searched at the door.