Musical Monday: The Jezabels Concert Review

TODAY MARKS THE FIFTIETH(ish) MUSICAL MONDAY POST! HUZZAH! 

By my count this it the 50th Musical Monday post, it only took a dash over two years to get to this milestone (see the first one here, sidenote: the first Musical Monday actually got published on a Tuesday)... here's hoping we reach 100 before 2016!

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming:

Last week I saw the Australian pop-rock band The Jezabels in concert at the Rock & Roll Hotel.

Now before you go thinking I go to awesome rock shows every week, I had bought the tickets awhile ago for a date in mid-April. Sometime in March, the band announced it would be postponing the concert date and that all rickets would be good for the new June 18th date. Turns out their Australian tour ended up getting extended in some way and they also headlined the Sydney Opera House(!!!), which is why we had to wait a few extra months to see them stateside. It was definitely worth the wait.

Opening Act: Gold & Youth

Gold & Youth is a band from Vancouver, BC (where I'll be in 2 weeks, what a coincidence!) who are currently on a (inter)national tour on Canada & the US. I had heard them on KEXP somewhat recently and was pleasantly surprised to find them opening this show.

A modern version of 80s synth pop, my friend thought they sounded a bit like The Cure and other bands of that era.  They shared vocals between band members which adds a depth to their sound. Their set was tight, well-executed and sounded great.

Here's a look at their 2013 Album Beyond Wilderness

The Jezabels

There was supposed to be a 12 second video of the concert but blogger was being difficult.

Their show was polished, professional and deserving of a larger venue.  They sounded absolutely fantastic live and the vocals by Haley Mary were powerful and emotive, and were sometimes accompanied by keyboardist Heather Shannon. Nik Kaloper played heart-pounding rhythms on the drums and Sam Lockwood brought the rock & roll with his guitar.


They describe their music as "intensindie" and and brought that sort of intensity to playing their show.  The band got right to playing and there was very little if any, banter towards the audience and I don't even remember them introducing the individual band-members, the music itself was entertaining enough.  Haley Mary and guitarist Sam Lockwood had a few choice dance moves, but unfortunately the stage was small enough, there really wasn't a lot of room for movement.

Here's a look at the video for their latest single look Look of Love from their 2014 album The Brink

Look of Love turned out to be one of my favorites live, as during various chorus repeats Haley would lose herself to the music and start spinning, with one arm waving freely along to the music. While I admired the professionalism they brought, it was the spontaneity of moments like this that were the highlights of the night. If they make it back to the States, they're definitely one to catch live!

Here's what I first posted about them in 2012 for their video to the single Endless Summer:
Epic drumbeats, a ridiculous vocal range, passionately ambiguous but dark/nostalgic lyrics, means it must be the Jezabels. The video is just as epic w/ a cinematic Beauty & the Beast-esque storyline, horses, & Australian ranch.