Rock City on a frosty December night felt the perfect setting for The Jesus and Mary Chain’s return, and forty years on from their earliest gigs, the show was as visceral and cool as ever.
The brothers Reid - Jim and William - may have swapped the sneering chaos of their twenty minute amphetamine fueled sets for a more polished stage presence, but the spirit of antagonistic cool still runs through their music. Forming in the early 80s, the band were infamous for playing with their backs to the crowd and barely muttering a word. Now, it makes sense to let the music do the talking, and when the lights went down, they emerged in a swirl of strobes and haze, looking as timeless as their sound.
Before the main event, Brighton-based Ciel opened the night with a performance that hinted at their growing potential. Their dreamy alt-rock-pop sound, evocative of Wolf Alice, combined shimmering guitar tones with an emotional rawness that sat well in the room. It was a confident set, blending ethereal atmospheres with a driving undercurrent of grit.
By the time The Jesus and Mary Chain stepped on stage, the room was crackling with a sense of anticipation. They opened with Jamcod, easing the crowd into their world of reverb-laden guitars and deadpan vocals before moving into favourites like April Skies from 1987’s Darklands and Far Gone and Out from 1992’s Honey’s Dead. Despite a varied line-up over the years, with the Reids at the helm the performance is incredibly tight - the raw edge of their early days is lessened, but replaced by a performance that feels meticulously refined, but no less enjoyable.
It’s not just for nostalgia's sake, it’s a reminder of how deeply The Jesus and Mary Chain have imprinted themselves on alternative music.
That’s not to say they’ve lost their edge. There’s a lineage in their music that hits you as the night progresses. One of my favourite games to play when soaking up music old and new, you can hear where they’ve come from and who they’ve influenced in turn - the ripping repetition of Neu! And vocals of The Stooges in Venal Joy, and even shades of Oasis’s Cigarettes and Alcohol in the biting riff of Blues From a Gun. It’s not just for nostalgia's sake, it’s a reminder of how deeply The Jesus and Mary Chain have imprinted themselves on alternative music.
The setlist meandered a little in the middle, with tracks like Pure Poor and Nine Million Rainy Days drifting into murkier territory. The crowd swayed, but you could feel the energy sagging slightly. Then came Head On, and things jolted awake. The dirty stomp of Venal Joy followed, channelling a raw, grinding momentum.
The crowd, of course, are mostly people in their forties and up so there are very few phones blocking the view, which feels strangely abnormal. Outside in the smoking area I enjoyed chatting to a couple outside, Jackie and Jim, who tell me how they bought Psychocandy on vinyl when it was first released in 1985.
In recent years I've found the lighting effects at gigs becoming a proper art form, so props to whoever was in control. The smoke, strobes, and shimmering lights added a dreamlike quality to the night, as if the band was playing from some liminal space.
Aside from the music on stage, this was some of the most beautiful lighting I’ve seen at Rock City. Simple but striking, silvers, blues and pinks, cut through the smoke like shards, creating a prismatic, almost celestial backdrop. In recent years I've found the lighting effects at gigs becoming a proper art form, so props to whoever was in control. The smoke, strobes, and shimmering lights added a dreamlike quality to the night, as if the band was playing from some liminal space.
The encore was a sharp reminder of their brilliance. With Ciel's Michelle Hindricks providing some mesmerising vocals on Just Like Honey, the band transitioned into Taste of Cindy, sending a final ripple of energy out into the crowd. Finally, they closed with Reverence, a sprawling, visceral blast.
To me, The Jesus and Mary Chain have always sounded like falling in love, and tonight they made me love them a little more. Proving why they still matter, even forty years on, for a moment, Rock City felt like stepping into the past and future of alternative music all at once.
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