It’s fitting that on my last night as a resident of New York City, I saw JOE JACKSON play live. For those of you who don’t know, Joe is not only a legendary British singer-songwriter who came onto the scene in the late ‘70s and has put out lots of always interesting and challenging, even occasionally brilliant, albums, but he was a resident of New York City for over twenty years. Like many musicians and artists, he fell in love with New York City in the early ‘80s and became turned off at how expensive and restrictive New York has become, so he left for London several years ago. When he first arrived in 1982, however, he recorded Night and Day, his brilliant concept album about life in the Big Apple.
After touring in 2003 with original Joe Jackson Band members GARY SANFORD on guitar, GRAHAM MABY on bass and DAVE HOUGHTON on drums while supporting the excellent Volume Four, Joe toured solo with TODD RUNDGREN last year. Longtime fans were questioning what his next move would be when lo and behold, he announced plans for a short tour in June with Maby and Houghton backing him up. Joe leading a piano, bass and drums trio isn’t unprecedented. In 1999, he did a series of shows at the now defunct Bottom Line and Joe’s Pub with only the long-serving Maby and drummer GARY BURKE backing him up, which he dubbed the “Just for the Hell of It” tour. Those shows were raucous, unpredictable, and full of nervous energy. In contrast, this show at the much larger Town Hall was more restrained and professional but no less enjoyable.
He opened with “Hometown” from 1986’s Big World, though Night and Day was represented heavily in the setlist with a solo “Steppin’ Out” (thankfully restored to its original tempo and vocal melody) along with “Another World” and “Cancer.” The early years were represented by “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” “On Your Radio,” “It’s Different for Girls,” and “One More Time.” To show that this was no nostalgia concert, though, most of the rest of the show saw Joe and the band concentrate on material from Volume Four like “Take It Like A Man,” “Awkward Age,” and “Love at First Light,” along with brand new compositions “Citizen Sane,” “Sunglasses in the Rain,” “Invisible Man,” “Too Tough,” and the recently restored “Drunk Song” (which was played during the 1999 trio concerts). Of these brand new compositions (all of which will be featured on Joe’s upcoming album), I thought that “Sunglasses in the Rain” and “Too Tough” were excellent with the rest ranging from average to good. This gives me hope that the new record will be as strong as Volume Four, though given the direction that he’s going in, it will probably be more of piano-based pop record rather than Volume Four, which at times sounded like a throwback to his late ‘70s new wave heyday.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable show from one of my favorite musicians of all time in a venue with almost perfect sound, even from my balcony seat. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to say goodbye to New York City.
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