grown old gracefully?

Camden, known for its rock music heritage, played host to the Jesus and Mary Chain on Wednesday night. The round house was filled to the rafters with 40 somethings and those who look back on the mid 80s as a treasure trove of music but the mood was far from sombre.

With beer in hand and a select group of Friends HSAH waited in anticipation as the crowd filled up and the roundhouse started to hum. After a gig being cancelled HSAH was not surprised that this event was busy. After standing through two average support bands, a luxury for some bands but a trial for those who have no interest in support acts. This is a big venue after all so the support bands were irrelevant but come quarter to ten what we had all been waiting for came...

The Jesus and Mary Chain came to the stage. At this point HSAH feel it is relevant to state that her knowledge of TJAMC extends from Psycho Candy to Darklands and before this gig HSAH thought this was pretty knowledgeable. She was wrong.

As the band played got going HSAH started to realise that these were not familiar tracks but patiently waited for the dark, feedback driven tracks that she loved. When they came, she was a little underwhelmed. This is not to say that the likes of Happy When it Rains and Just Like Honey weren't preformed well. They just lacked that raw edge. The Jesus and Mary Chain had grown up and learnt how to play their instruments and now they rocked in a capital A sort of way rather for the charming, noisy way they do on the CDs that HSAH love.

This sense of disappointment didn't taint (too much) the feeling of joy that HSAH got from singing her little heart out April Skys though. She basted in how cheesy this night could be perceived to be.

HSAH now wonders whether or not old acts should actually just stay on our stereo rather then coming back to venues? Would there always be that sense of disappointment that they do not live up to our expectations?