When Tobias Jesso Jr. first started putting his songs up on YouTube as bedroom-made demos about two years ago, the recordings were rough, amateurish masterpieces. The simplicity of the songs was presented in a big, thrilling way, and people caught on pretty quick.
Jesso was signed to a Beggars-affiliated label, started recording with Chet “JR” White, and prepared to release one of 2015’s most anticipated albums. The final result, Goon, came out earlier this month – and unlike our first glimpse of Jesso via YouTube – the material on Goon shows sprawling instrumentation, skilled production, and an earnestly polished performance.
On his current tour in support of the new record, each performance features Jesso and his piano – nothing more. In fact, the piano that he brings to each show is the same one he uses at home in Vancouver.
At Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn Friday night, Jesso shared this bit of information with the sold-out crowd of less than three hundred. “So… welcome to my bedroom!” he said laughing.
And that’s what his entire sixty-minute set felt like – hanging out with Jesso in a comfortable, intimate space while listening to him play stripped-down versions of songs everyone in attendance knew by heart. Between songs, Jesso would chat with fans, explaining how certain songs were written and answering questions shouted from fifteen rows back.
There’s a sense of incredibly palpable honesty that shows through Jesso’s music, and it became even clearer watching him from ten feet away. On paper, Jesso’s lyrics aren’t anything special; they’re not particularly complex and they represent fairly common themes and emotions, but they’re expressed in such an audibly genuine way that they become something completely different. It’s a seriously intriguing kind of music, and his personality is one component largely responsible for it.
Jesso’s current tour will run until mid summer, moving over to the UK, Europe, and ending at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. Find tickets to upcoming shows here and stream the entirety of Goon here.
This was my first time at Revolution Music Hall. Make no mistake, this is a kick ass venue. It’s a pub with a small stage, a capacity of around 500, and a lot of cool monuments and posters to look at. The place has great sound, killer environment, and the best part, drinks and food are served during shows. And cleverly, they have curtains going around the front of the stage to keep closed between sets, which is not common at other similar sized venues around New York State.
After Zire’s War, Sworn Enemy ignited the crowd into a bloody knuckle fiasco. The floor erupted with dozens upon dozens of men slam dancing the fuck out of the venue. It did feel like a short setlist from Sworn Enemy, but there were some great fire starter songs in their set such as “We Hate,” “As Real As It Gets,” and their anthem “Sworn Enemy.” This band never disappoints.
Overall a fantastic show for anyone looking to kick start their adrenaline or to get their hardcore jollies out of their system. My only complaint, it seemed like an awful long time to set up between bands, especially since every band minus Biohazard only played six to eight songs. But Revolution Music Hall is definitely a fitting venue for metal and hardcore shows. And now we eagerly await the next Biohazard and Sworn Enemy US tour, and the future of Zire’s War.
Graig Adler: How long have you been on tour? When does it end? How many dates? When’s the last time you’ve been “home”?
After the moe. show, most of the crowd filed out and ventured two blocks down to B.B. King’s, where Ha Ha the Moose was on the loose.
After having a few hours off to romp around the city, moe. was back at it Saturday night. Saturday night’s show at the Best Buy sold out during that day. Highlights of the show included an intense “Runaway Overlude,” “She,” “Billy Goat” segueing into “Head,” plus Shannon and Terry Lynch of the Conehead Buddha horns joining the band on “Not Coming Down,” “Threw It All Away” and “Dr. Graffenburg.”