I went to the best gig I've seen all year last night. Not that there have been many gigs. Not that the gigs there have been haven't been great too. Anyway. Andrew Jackson Jihad at The Portland Arms. One of those rare times where I listened to a band online simply because they were playing soon and thought they were brilliant. Their latest album, Christmas Island, is a bona fide classic I reckon. The lyrics are so good ("I am a blank page in a notebook, waiting to be filled with countless drawings of cocks"). The production isn't too far from In The Aeroplane Over The Sea in places, but I think the songs are better (are people allowed to say that?). So, I'd listened to it all day and got myself really quite excited. That's normally a recipe to be let down but if anything they were better than I was expecting. I wasn't sure how many people they'd have brought over but it was a full 5 piece band, with cello and two lots of keys.
The singer's eyebrow work (and T-shirt actually) reminded me of Rishi from Karmadillo. I never thought I'd say that about anyone.
The band seemed a little disappointed with the amount of noise the audience were making but I think once they realised everyone was loving it they were ok. I was a bit disappointed they didn't do an encore because they didn't play the song I most wanted to hear. That and the singer's tie dyed shirt were the only downsides really!