Jesse Malin @ Bowery Ballroom
March 19th, 2007 - by John
I went to see Jesse Malin last night at the Bowery Ballroom. I am a big fan of Jesse’s music and I have seen him play all around the city over the past few years but last night’s sold out show may have been my favorite in recent memory. The home town show (Jesse is from Queens originally) was a celebration of sorts as Jesse has an excellent new album that comes out today called Glitter in the Gutter. Jesse and band had just taped Conan earlier in the day – so they had a lot to be excited about. As you might expect the set included lots of material off the new record including: the first single Don’t Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day), Tomorrow Night, Broken Radio, Little Star, Prisoners of Paradise, Black Haired Girl and In The Modern World.
There were also plenty of tracks from Jesse’s solo debut The Fine Art of Self Destruction including Riding On The Subway, Almost Grown, Downliner and Brooklyn. He also threw in Hotel Columbia from The Heat. A highlight of the set was Solitaire during which Malin entered the jumped off the stage- got the entire crowd to sit down on the floor- turned on the house lights- and had a little sing along. Jesse was typically talkative- sharing strange stories and telling jokes that at times seemed to go over the crowd’s head. Both are parts of what make him a compelling stage presence.
During the encore Jesse spoke for a bit about some new bands he was into including The Hold Steady- he then proceeded to cover one of their songs You Can Make Him Like You. The encore also included Going Out West, Lucinda (dedicated to Lucinda Williams), Wendy and finally closing with my favorite tune from the new record Aftermath.
There was a camera crew from HBO filming the whole time – so I hope a lot of folks get to see the final product- and discover Jesse Malin.
