Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
For all that’s been said about its innovative use of sampling, Jesus Jones ultimately is a taut rock ‘n’ roll band that gives concertgoers something worthwhile to look at, as well as listen to. Returning to Chicago for a sold-out gig Friday night at the Aragon Ballroom, the British group performed a confident, polished set that showed how much it matured musically since first touring the U.S. a year ago.
“I”m Marshall Crenshaw – power pop guru!” the musician jokingly announced after his first encore at the Vic Theatre Saturday night. As far as the packed house was concerned, Crenshaw couldn’t have been more correct. When he released his debut album in 1982, critics hailed Crenshaw as pop music’s proverbial next big thing. Looking out at the enthusiastic fans at the Vic, the bespectacled musician, who got his start in show business portraying John Lennon in “Beatlemania,” gave them a knowing smile.
Intelligent heavy metal is an oxymoron in today’s rock world. Too many bands rely on videos featuring nubile models rather than honest musicianship to sell their songs. The member of Queensrÿche stand out in this world, not because they are the prettiest, loudest or raunchiest, but because they treat their music as art rather than product.
The La’s have made it no secret that they hate their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album, which they believe dulled their sound. Compared with their energetic live show Thursday night at Cabaret Metro, it’s understandable why the musicians were upset. The La’s hourlong concert, in their Chicago debut, was a throwback to the ’60s when brevity counted for something in rock ‘n’ roll. Virtually all of their songs were under three minutes (with the notable exception of their lush eight-minute opus “Looking Glass”).
There’s a scene in Spike Lee’s new film, “Jungle Fever,” that hit a little too close to home for Wesley Snipes. The lovers portrayed by him and co-star Annabella Sciorra are engaged in a playful embrace that a police officer mistakes as a black man raping a white woman. Snipes’ character gets a gun put to his head.
Jonathon Brandmeier’s concert Saturday evening at Tinley Park’s World Music Theatre started off with a bang as the popular WLUP radio personality crashed through a video screen, wearing a Superman-style costume. Quickly stripped of that outfit to reveal a slightly less flamboyant combination of a colorful flowered shirt, casual black pants and jacket, Brandmeier and his band, the Leisure Suits, launched the World’s summer season with a two-hour show that included satirical music, glib comedy, a little mooning and a marriage proposal.
Guns N’ Roses, kicking off its first-ever headlining tour Friday night at Alpine Valley, negated the oft-repeated and seemingly true tale that today’s musicians have forgotten what rock ‘n’ roll is all about. Three years after its debut LP “Appetite for Destruction” clawed its way to the top of the album charts, the controversial Los Angeles band gave an aggressive, testosterone-laced performance before an almost sold-out crowd of 40,000 fans, showing that while its members’ tumultuous private lives and business idiosyncrasies are the stuff that keeps gossip columnists in business, their music contains all the elements that make rock ‘n’ roll vital.
Creating a euphoric version of rock ‘n’ roll that relied on equal parts acid house, hard rock and Beatlesque melodies, Jesus Jones’ performance Saturday night at the Vic Theatre embodied what rock music once was all about. Foregoing the hackneyed formats of its sample-crazed colleagues, Jesus Jones – a five-man band from London – deftly demonstrated that with a little ingenuity, artists can borrow from the past without committing an artistic crime. Jesus Jones is not the savior of contemporary rock ‘n’ roll, but the group has proven that using the musical past is no sin if it’s the way to a better future.
After six years of playing to seemingly the same small group of fans, Chris Isaak made a triumphant return to Chicago, this time as a bonafide pop star. The Junk Monkeys also performed a show over the weekend that made up with power what it lacked in polish. The Junk Monkeys concert at the Avalon on Saturday night proved that while they have “speed pop” down to an art form, the young Detroit musicians would benefit from varying their sets to showcase some of their non-thrash-style songs earlier in their gigs.
Everyone knew Chris Isaak would become a star. No one knew that it would take this long. Six years after being touted as the proverbial next big thing in rock ‘n’ roll, Isaak has fulfilled the prophecy of music critics and fans. With the release of his debut LP “Silvertone” in 1985, Isaak was pronounced as this generation’s answer to Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, all rolled into one neat, Brylcreemed package.