REVIEW: The Jesus and Mary Chain kick off Night One of Substance
The first night of goth festival Substance took place in the grand Los Angeles Theater on a gloomy night in downtown last Friday. The inside of the theater felt more like a nightclub than the venue’s usual showcases. Each room poured with fake-fog and pulsed with strobe lights. The crowd wore an overwhelming amount of black latex, leather, and platform boots, the occasional gimp suit and bridal veil highlighting themselves from others. With an extraordinary lineup of different electronic, post-punk, and dark wave acts, The Jesus and Mary Chain headlined Friday night alongside Manchester-hailing pop-peers The Chameleons.
The Jesus and Mary Chain have had somewhat of an inconsistent career, to say the least. The band, consisting of brothers Jim and William Reid, formed in South Lanarkshire, Scotland in the early 80s. They gained instant notoriety both in Europe and the states after the release of their debut album Psychocandy in 1985. They would later release five more projects, including 1998’s Munki, before having a very public breakup in the middle of an aborted 1999 tour. Working through the siblings’ tumultuous relationship with each other, the band would later reunite in 2007, announcing a brand new tour and a slot on that year’s Coachella lineup. According to an interview, though, the brothers’ relationship was not completely mended until their latest album, Damage and Joy, released a decade later.
After their headlining tour in promotion of Damage and Joy plus a thrilling string of U.S. dates supporting Nine Inch Nails in 2018, the band, like many others, experienced canceled live shows the following few years. 2022 seems like a fruitful comeback year for The Jesus and Mary Chain – after booking Primavera Barcelona and Levitation in Austin, Texas, they’ve been consistently on the road all year. Their performance at Substance LA was one of the few dates they’ve had in the United States, let alone California, this year.
The Jesus and Mary Chain are as experienced in performing as they are notoriously shy about it. Although sometimes overcome by bouts of stage fright, the theater served as a perfect backdrop for the band’s performance. The Main Stage at the Los Angeles Theater is an architectural spectacle: 75-feet high ceilings are adorned with reliefs, baroque columns line the wall, and red velvet curtains reveal the state. In a hauntingly dark auditorium lit up by the club-like light show, The Jesus and Mary Chain appear modest on stage mirrored by die-hard fans. It took them more than halfway through their setlist to finally address the crowd like a snap back to reality: “So, how’s it going out there? Is everyone having fun?”
They opened with “Amputation,” Damage and Joy’s lead single, followed by cult-favorite Darklands hit “April Skies.” The band played their greatest hit, “Just Like Honey,” early on in the set, setting the crowd ablaze. Older fans appreciated deep-cuts like “Snakedriver” and “Subway,” the younger fans bopping their heads to popular tracks off of Darklands and Psychocandy. The band led a tight and focused performance, Jim Reid’s vocals finely aged but still attune with recordings from the 80s.
With only about three feet of pit space before the auditorium style seats hit, Substance attendees packed themselves in front of the stage, no barrier holding them back from being arm's-length away. The crowd could have easily been transported straight from one of the band’s 80’s shows in London based on looks alone. The set was delayed about an hour due to the longevity of previous bands’ sets, but when The Jesus and Mary Chain came on, all the standing and waiting was worth it. The band closed out with the hooky and distorted “All Things Pass” and “Reverence” before bidding the crowd goodnight. As a perfect ending to the first night of Substance, their headlining performance was just a taste of what was left for the weekend.
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