Brian Jonestown Massacre @ Rex Theater 3/30/09

April 4th, 2009 - by Niles Rockwell

Location, Pittsburgh, Reviews, Rock, Shows

From the band’s Myspace

The Brian Jonestown Massacre is the biggest traditional rock band I’ve ever seen live.

Not in popularity, but literally the biggest band I’ve ever seen.  With nine touring members crowding a stage, they dwarf even Skynyrd.  And the recession doesn’t seem to be cutting into their payroll at all, since they have a guy who stands front-and-center for the whole show playing only tambourine and maracas.  A little excessive maybe, but he is definitely one of the more animated members up there.

Enough about that.  The band is known primarily for their neo-psychedelic sound that is straight out of 1968.  With five guitars on stage (two or three electric six-strings, an acoustic, and an electric twelve-string…not to mention the occasional sitar), they create a sonic blast that washes right over you.

However, the band was plagued by bad sound that night and I didn’t get to experience the wall of sound I was expecting.  Riffs tended to be rather muddy, but it lent itself to the genre they were trying to ape.  Fidelity wasn’t the biggest attribute in late 60′s psychedelia.

What they do do really well is create a textured, mid-tempo sound that builds and swirls all around you.  Vocals are rather limited to simplicity, shared between leading members Anton Newcombe and Matt Hollywood.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand a damn word all night so I don’t really know what they were trying to say.

Outside of the drummer and Mr. Tambourine Man, the band didn’t exude much energy at all.  Of course, there wasn’t much room left up there for acrobatics.  But still, they looked rather bored and jaded and didn’t seem to be enjoying much of anything.  They vocalized their beef with the sound, but it didn’t get much better throughout the night.

The more Jager and beer I drank, the more I tended to enjoy myself.  I could expect that it would be a helluva show if you were on an acid trip.  In fact, one guy there seemed to know this all too well.  He was definitely altered out of his mind, kept bumping into people, and had a tic that made Robin Williams seem calm.

At the end of the show as people were leaving, one of their guitar players got into a pissing match with an unruly male audience member.  Both of them screamed back and forth for a while before the bouncers threw the guy out.  I don’t know what the fight was about, but it definitely was not the best note to end on.