From: The Evil Chemist (jverburg@suba.com)

I was unfortunate enough to be in Boston while the Yankees were there blugeoning the sox, but i was fortunate enough to be in town when the Mike Peters , Gene Loves Jezebel & The Mission were playing.

I was kinda skeptical/cynical about the whole thing, given the lameness of other "reunion shows".

I'm so glad I was wrong.

All I can say is that this was the *BEST* concert I've seen this year. All three bands put on great performances. I'm not really familiar with either the Alarm, or GLJ but fuck those boys could play.

All of them. [1]

This was an all out Rock 'N' Roll show and, after seeing them play, there is no way a band can be a Rock 'N' Roll band without a live drummer.

Rock 'N' Roll is all about gigs and playing live.

It's about the sweat of the drummer as he flails sticks at rates faster than the human eye can capture, it's about the finger grease refracting arcs across the guitar, it's about the lead guitarist contorting his facial features in some sort manifestation of perverse pain or exctasy. It's about charging up the crowd with the energy you create onstage as you play your heart out. It's been a long time since I've seen musicians of this calibar play. Most bands I see nowadays are drum machined and sythesized. Now, I do like alot of snythetic music, but IMO alot of the emotion of live performance is lost in the automation.

But not these guys.
They had it all.
They didn't miss a beat.

The bass player (Craig Adams) of The Mission churned out sounds I'd never imagined could come from such an instrument.

Wayne Hussey was dressed in a black button up shirt, black jeans, short hair and sunglasses. He played an Ivory White/copper trim Elvis like guitar. His voice was never stronger.

He is quite the Rock Star.

The Mish had everyone in the Crowd pogosticking to 1969 and waving fists screaming

"GIVE ME, GIVE ME, GIVE ME, DELIVERENCE!!!!"

I looked around and the entire crowd was completely enveloped by the music bouncing around, rasing their hands lip syncing the words.

They played Wasteland, Deliverence, Severina, Blood Brothers, Butterfly on a Wheel, Beyond the Pale, Tower of Strength, Into the Blue, Hands Across the Ocean, and a bunch more I can't think of off the top of my head.

Fuck it was a great show.

There were alot of "Sad Old Goths" in the audience btw.

jv

[1] If I had to judge, I'd say GLJ put on the weakest performance of the 3, but they still rocked anyway.

From: "^v^Brenda ^v^" (gargoylebat@hotmail.com)

Well I'm back from HEAVEN. It's been an INTENSE 2 days for me! I don't know how I made it thru!

Well here is my story of what I experienced in Chicago on Monday night: (Part 2: Milwaukee will follow shortly)

My friend Jen and I arrived in Chicago at about 4pm and stopped at out friend Keli's house to drop off stuff cuz we were spending the night. We left there at about 4:20pm and went right to the HOB. We got there at about 4:45 and about 5 minutes later, the bands arrived. We saw Mike and Jules and James Stevenson 1st, and a few minutes later we saw Wayne. Then Jay and Jessica came in, and I spoke with them for a bit. then we saw Pete after that as well. We said Hello to everyone but weren't gonna "bug" anyone for pictures or autographs before soundcheck. Soundcheck was difficult for me. To hear Wayne sing again after 9.5 years was breath-taking and very emotional for me. During soundcheck they did "Can't help falling...", "Butterfly...", "Tower", and "Neverland". After they were done, GLJ did their soundcheck, but by this time it was getting buzy and Ian from the list had shown up and between taking and all the commotion going on I only caught them doing "Down (Pray for me)". They opened the doors after that....

Before the show started, I spent some time at the Merch booth talking to Jules (Mike Peter's wife) and to Paul (from GLJ's camp...) This is the 2nd time I've met Jules tho and I must say she it SOOOO SWEET! If you get the chance to talk to her please do! I spent $80 dollars that night on merchandise! and I knew I'd be spending some more in Milw. the next day cuz I didn't have enought with me!

The show started pretty much on time. Mike Peters took the stage at about 8:05pm and he was just incredible! (Hey Lynn, can you forward this pt. to the Alarm list for me til I get on there myself?) Mike is one of the most talented singer/songwriters! Get there early if you can so you can see his set!!!! It's really worth it. I didn't write down the songs he sang to keep track of a set list, but some of the songs he did were "Rise", "Breathe", and this new song called "Kalidescope" that was just AMAZING! I loved that song! Wow! He also did "Unsafe Building", and "The Stand", and "Spirit of '76". There was no jam with James and Craig tho...oh well....

GLJ took the stage right at 9pm. Can I say that Jay is just too damn great! Jay is really one of the nicest people I have ever met, I think he's truly gifted. And James is one of the BEST guitar players ever! and Pete is still cute too...And Jessica is REALLY talented as well... Their set rocked my world except for Kiss of Life (one of my faves) which got ruined by this stupid girl who was behind me the talking loud thru the whole song! Right before the band started Heartache someone yelled something to the stage, that I didn't quite catch, but Jay said "You mean the REAL GLJ is in the House?" YES THEY WERE!!!! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! Anyway here's the set list:

Always a Flame
20Khz
Liquor Man
Why Can't I?
Kiss of Life
Uptown
Sweet Sweet Rain
Heartache
Who wants to go to Heaven? (Vampire)
Gorgeous
Desire

Ok, then the Mish took the stage at 10:30pm!!!! I almost freaked out! I was in awe! Wayne sounded SOOOOO good. He said (the next day--but I'll get to that in my Milw review) that his throat was a little sore. I think he sounded better than he ever did! Anyway I was dead center and I forgot that the HOB stage is pretty high. My neck was killing me by the end of the show, but I got over it pretty quick! I still can't believe how powerful they were! It's was soooo intense! I thought I would be crying thru the whole show, but I didn't! The set list was as follows:

Intro
Beyond the Pale
Hands Across...
Into the Blue
Butterfly...
Raising Cain
Severina
Blood Brothers
Swoon
Tower of...
Deliverance
-----------
Can't help falling...
(Part of) Dream on
Wasteland
1969

For some reason the encore was just un-real! I had total Deja-vu during 1969. I don't know why tho. Wayne forgot the rest of the lyrics to Dream on, so he said "That's enought of this (crap?)" And Wasteland had a little bit O'Reggae in the middle. Show end-12:15pm.

We hung around for a bit, but couldn't stay too long cuz we had to get back to our friends house to get some sleep before going home. I talked with Jules again for a bit and then Jen and I spotted James so we talked to him for a bit too. Then I spotted Jay at the bar on side of the stage and we went to talk to him. We talked about every thing from his Brother to the Jezebel cd and email and computer stuff.

We left the building around 1:15pm and went back to Keli's. We got some sleep and were back on the road home by just before noon...

From: "Householter, Monte" (MHouseholter@foc.com>

First of all, there were no car accidents or break-ins to report. I arrived at the HOB at 7pm for my first Mish show ever. Meet up with fellow listees Brenda and Ian, who I met a couple weeks prior at a Chicago Fire soccer gathering, small world indeed. After some small chit-chat, doors open and we're finally let in. Mike's still soundchecking so we take a look at the Mish goods. Decide to maybe buy something later on.

Anyway, Mike comes on does an entire acoustic set without any help from Scott and Craig, unlike previous shows I've read about. I haven't really kept up with Mike's solo stuff since the Alarm broke up so I was unfamilar with most of his set, which was quite good, especially "Kaleidoscope."

Next up, GLJ, who I'm told no longer has Michael in the band and that Michael calls his band GLJ too. No wonder I lost track of them over the years, too confusing to follow. I was really impressed with their performance though, enough to buy their latest CD. During one song, Jay borrowed Wayne's Gretsch guitar and then complained it was too quiet. Talk about ungrateful. During the show Jay made comments like "welcome to the House of Black" and "we're not very gothic although I have a black shirt on." I really enjoyed "Who Wants to Go to Heaven", "Kiss of Life", and "Gorgeous."

Time for the Mish. They come on to some cheesy marching music, but we're glad to have them back after a 10 year hiatus. Wayne looks really different than in pictures and videos I've seen of him. No bunches of hair, no hats, no bandanas, no tights, no makeup, and no Blue Nun - only water, I think!!!. Just a toned-down look. Same with Craig and the rest of the band.

They launch into a stomping version of "Beyond the Pale" and procede to play mostly everything I wanted to hear - "Severina", "Blood Brother", "Hands Across...". During TOS, I looked to Ian to start the pyramid as he's one of the original Eskimos ;) but a 2 man pyramid wasn't gonna happen tonight. I heard "Swoon" and "Raising Cain" for the first time and really liked what I heard. Now if I could track down Neverland, I would be a happy man.

For the first encore, Wayne comes on and does an Elvis song suggesting a career in Vegas perhaps. It's plausible, he lives only a stone's throw over in So. Cali. After that he begins "Like a Child Again", but fans are shouting requests. Wayne hears "Dream On" and does a touching rendition of it until he forgets the rest of the words. Fans keep shouting requests and someone shouts "Marian" (where's your Eldritch now?) to Wayne's amusement, Mark starts that famous guitar intro of "Marian" that segues into "Crystal Ocean" that segues into "Wasteland". Truly a treat for our ears. If that was a treat, then "1969" was a barrage. Hussey and Co. can still rock in their old age. Iggy would have been proud.

Monte

Photos from Chicago on the official site




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