Joe Jackson 2001-04-09
Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, CA

Set 1
Reading:The Piss & Punchup Club
Home Town
Blue Flame
Any Major Dude'll Tell You
Be My Number Two
Eleanor Rigby
It's Different For Girls
Danny Boy story
The Man Who Wrote Danny Boy

Set 2
Real Men
Love Got Lost
Cancer
Satin Doll
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Sea Of Secrets
Stay/Steppin' Out (LA Ford Ampitheatre 4/16/01)
Reelin' In the Years (LA Wiltern 12/12/00)
Is She Really Going Out With Him?(LA Wiltern 12/12/00)
Breaking Us In Two(LA Wiltern 12/12/00)
Be My Number Two(LA Wiltern 12/12/00)
Hometown(LA Wiltern 12/12/00)

Set 3


Comment
Message 6497 from the Joe Jackson group on Yahoo

I thought last night's show was probably the best and most unique JJ show I have ever seen. The set/reading list has been posted already and it definately contained some interesting and spontaneous moments.
First off, the setting: the Fillmore is basically a big ballroom,with the stage up front, a bar running the length of one side and some booths up in the balcony. For last night's show, they set up tables that seated seven or eight, which gave the hall a very caberet-type of feel. The show was sold out with I'm guessing around 500 people attending. The stage was about four feet high, Graham's basses set up stage left, acoustic grand piano center, violins and cello to the right. Catherine Bent strolled in about 15 minutes before the show with cello case on her back to set up.

Joe came out solo to read Chapter 1 from his book. He was wearing a black statin shirt, black slacks and a grey, four-button jacket with a gold, diamond-shaped pin on the lapel. The played the first five songs solo, commenting several times that this was an unusual show and that he had no idea what they were going to play or what direction the show would take. I got the feeling "Blue Flame" was really a spur of the moment decision. He was flipping through a lyric book or something, when he said that he'd like to try a new,unrecorded song. Blue Flame is definately a love-type of song,written in a minor key. The lyrics to the main verse were "You've got a blue flame burning inside you, and its beautiful and pure" or something to that effect. I think the song also speaks to the questioning of sexuality theme, as another line was something like "Women drive you mad, and men are all bastards". An autobiographical song perhaps???
Joe's singing and playing were right on last night. Perhaps it was the acoustic piano, but his playing was flawless, the best that I have ever heard from him. Very clean, dynamic, and light at right moments. Although he claims that he is not a jazz musician, on Cancer and Satin Doll, Joe launched into these great jazz-inspired, bossa
nova-style (on Cancer) solos that were fantastic. The audience was very appreciative and applauded after each solo. The acoustic setting was conducive for Joe's ballad-type of songs (his strength in my opinion), and if you check the set list, he exploited that to the fullest. It was great to hear Drowing and The Other Me back-to-back.
Be My Number 2, Real Men, Hometown and Cancer seemed to get the biggest applause. Cancer was superb. Catherine and Allison played these percussion itmes that gave the song its trademark latin rhythm.
I'm constantly amazed at how Joe can create such a full sound without the use of drums or guitar. Blue Flame and Satin Doll were surprises. From prior set lists, I don't recall him performing these songs.Satin Doll was the first song of the encore and apparently it was a very spontaneous decision again, as Joe said that he and Graham just decided back stage to play it. It was obviously unreheresed, as Graham apparently missed a bass line, which Joe preceeded to sing (and give Graham a hard time while doing so). Graham just kind of shrugged his shoulders. The audience was great. I got the feeling the majority were hard-core
fans. Everyone was quiet at the right times (no morons shouting out during those perfect three seconds of silence during Hometown), very appreciative applause and nice recognition for solos as mentioned above. Joe was again in a great mood, laughing and joking around a lot. Both Catherine and Allison had a couple of tuning problems prior
to a few of the songs. Joe had to keep giving them notes to tune, which prompted him to comment, "Bloody strings". Before Love Got Lost, Joe was talking about the 7 minute opera thing and kind of wondered out loud how many 7 minute operas could fit into a normal 3 hour opera. After the song, Graham walked to the mike and blurted out "26!". Joe just looked at him puzzled. Graham stepped back up and
said "26 operas. You could play 26 7-minute operas." Joe was still baffled, obviously forgotten about the question he posed prior to the song, and said, "After 25 years with you, I still have no bloody idea what you're talking about."

Sorry about the long post. All-in-all, a perfect evening with Joe at his very best.

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Created At
Mon Jan 16 2012 19:22:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Updated At
Mon Jun 17 2002 21:57:29 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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