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Live review: Jay Reatard at Emo’s - 40 minutes and two arrests, yes that’s punk rock
Photos: See pics from the Jay Reatard show.
Jay Reatard, nee Jimmy Lee Lindsey, built his reputation on short, spazzy, furiously energetic garage punk with several bands in Memphis, Tenn. But by the time he graduated to solo material — first with 2006’s “Blood Visions” and this year with “Watch Me Fall” — he’d welded his guitar chops and rowdy rock sensibility with surprisingly catchy, pop-oriented songwriting that made him one of punk’s more accessible musicians. “Watch Me Fall” highlighted Reatard at his versatile best, with a more melodic sound that made greater use of harmonies and even strings.
But while Reatard’s recordings may have matured, his public persona — and the full-frontal assault that is his live show — haven’t aged a day. “Punk rock” is still the most apt description for Reatard’s image. After all, he’s the man who announced the loss of his band via Twitter in October (with the instantly quotable lines “Band quit ! (Expletive) them ! They are boring rich kids who can’t play for (expletive) anyways.”). Reatard’s famous for punching a zealous fan on-stage in Toronto last year. And Reatard has even claimed, also via Twitter, that shots were fired to disperse a fight during his Dec. 8 show at Walter’s in Houston.
That ethos was readily apparent at Wednesday night’s show at Emo’s, as Reatard and his new band pounded through 40 minutes of blistering punk. Fans gathered near the stage moshed violently, a firecracker was detonated on the floor and the show ended with the arrest of two concertgoers.
So, to reiterate: Punk. Rock.
Reatard took the stage after midnight and immediately launched into a series of highlights from his solo career. Though melody has taken on a greater prominence on his recordings, there’s little evidence of that in the live show — Reatard and band focused instead on fast, frenetic playing. They powered through a half dozen songs in the set’s first 10 minutes, treating their instruments less as objects to be coaxed and more as punching bags worthy of abuse. Reatard sliced into “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me,” the lead single off “Watch Me Fall,” with joyful abandon. Hooky riffs helped smooth out the rough edges on “Hammer I Miss You,” and Reatard’s high, Geddy Lee-esque voice rang out surprisingly clearly on “I Know A Place.”
While the set had all the makings of a fun night of pop-punk, it was sadly abridged at only 40 minutes — less than the opening performance by Austin’s own Harlem — after two rowdy fans attacked Reatard on-stage shortly after he announced he was playing the night’s final song. He retaliated by swinging his microphone stand and departed mid-song, giving the at-times rambunctious audience the finger as he exited the stage. There was to be no encore — the lights went up and the PA music kicked in as the two intruding fans were arrested by police outside the club’s Sixth Street entrance.
It was a good show — while it lasted. And Reatard can’t be held responsible for violent fans. But at less than 45 minutes and with a buzzkill of an ending, it’s hard to regard the night as anything more than an initially promising disappointment. That’s the sad thing about punk rock — sometimes the anger overtakes the fun and an audience walks away let down. With a too-short set and a combative ending, Reatard’s Wednesday night show ultimately felt less like a satisfactory set from a skilled player and more like a sad tease of the fun evening that might have been.
Update: The Austin Police Department’s public information office has confirmed that Michael Buehrer, 20, and Peter Aravello, 23, were the two men arrested. Both have been charged with public intoxication.
Pitchfork has this statement from Reatard’s publicist: “Jay was attacked, totally unprovoked, by two different people, both of whom were later arrested. One guy bolted onstage and came swinging at Jay, but security took him away pretty quickly. Soon after (the band hadn’t stopped playing, by the way), another guy sprinted onstage and hit Jay. Unlike the first guy, Jay didn’t even see this guy coming. So Jay defended himself with the mic stand until security took that guy away, too. Jay is safe and unhurt, and the cops were there for about an hour afterwards.”
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Comments
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By Snooze
December 10, 2009 8:26 AM | Link to this
Ha! Funny This guy is lame (just my opinion).
By Sheesh
December 10, 2009 10:18 AM | Link to this
Why does the Statesman have the Church Lady reviewing a punk show? 40 minutes is plenty long if you are playing “blistering punk”. It is in fact the longest show I have ever seen Jay Reatard play.
This is concentrate, dude. If you want a watered down live show with the guitar player tuning after each song and telling lame stories from the road, you’re welcome to the filler.
There are reasons why the Ramones never made a double album, or why prize fights don’t last two hours.
By NICK
December 10, 2009 11:21 AM | Link to this
i dont believe he does encores…i’ve seen him a lot of the years and i’ve never seen him once encore. the show was fun like they always are and the crowd wasnt angry. however, the fireworks were unexpected.
By Gerard Cosloy
December 10, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
“buzzkill of an ending?” man, talk about blaming the victim. Last night was by far the longest set Jay Reatard has played in Austin, which isn’t super newsworthy except Caldwell seems to imply the brevity of the set somehow mitigates the actions of “two rowdy fans”.
The real story here is that Jay Reatard was subject to an unprovoked, attempted assault by two audience members. If the ending was a trifle “combative” for Caldwell’s tastes, let’s see how well he functions if someone tries to punch him in the face while he’s typing.
By Sean
December 10, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
Technically, the Ramones did release a double album called “It’s Alive”.
By Frank M
December 10, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
Hell-if he played 6 songs in 10 minutes, he must have done around 20-24 in 45 mins-that’s a show!Sorry I missed it!
By Amped Up! Rich
December 10, 2009 12:04 PM | Link to this
I saw the Dwarves open for Rollins Band at the Cannibal Club in ‘90 and they played a hell of a lot less than 45 minutes. The way I remember it, the Dwarves played less than 20 minutes and Rollins came out and did almost 2 hours (at least it felt that way). Both sets rocked on their own merits.
What I wanna know is why Jay was attacked by fans … Where’s the Youtube clip already?
By Q
December 10, 2009 12:24 PM | Link to this
Anyone who thinks that 40 minutes is a disappointing Jay Reatard show has obviously never seen him before. That is exponentially more time than he’s ever played on an Austin stage in any of the YEARS he’s been coming here. Believe it or not, Vice magazine is not on the cutting edge of all things punk.
By roedood
December 10, 2009 12:48 PM | Link to this
hey guys if youve ever been to his show you know it doesnt last longer than 40. **** ive seen him play the best 15 set ever once.
duration of show does not equal how good it is, just think phish plays for 3 hours, see my point?
By Patrick Caldwell
December 10, 2009 12:49 PM | Link to this
Mr. Cosloy, I can understand why it read that way, and I want to make it clear that it was not my intent to imply that the brevity of the set in any way justified the fans’ actions. As you said, it was an unprovoked attack and in no way the result of anything Jay Reatard did or said on stage.
I enjoyed the set and was sad it didn’t go on longer — that’s all I was trying to communicate. And the attack was a disappointing way for the show to end — not a bitter note that was Jay’s fault, obviously, but a downer nonetheless. That’s what I was trying to convey.
By Punk Rock Boy
December 10, 2009 1:13 PM | Link to this
Hey!!! If there ain’t a fight, it ain’t punk rock!!!
By Alex Robinson
December 10, 2009 1:33 PM | Link to this
The length was perfect. The most wasn’t violent either, it was incredibly wholesome. Everyone was just bumping into one another, none of that opened-up mosh pit crap that was going on right inside at the Throwdown show.
Also, Jay picking up the microphone stand was just to look cool; and, to be honest, he did look pretty cool. He didn’t intend to hit anyone with it, this was after the kid had already been catapulted off stage; nonetheless, quite the stage stunt. He only swung a flailing fan into an amplifier and punched him a few times. Then security speared the kid off the 4-foot stage.
By kennedy
December 10, 2009 2:21 PM | Link to this
Jay Reatard is not punk by any stretch of the imagination. You dumb mainstream music fans wouldn’t know punk if it sat in your lap and called you momma. Stick to your Green Day CDs before you embarass yourself even more…..
By Brett
December 10, 2009 4:25 PM | Link to this
Who says punk is dead? Firecrackers, sweaty youths grabbing each other and people who paid to see this guy perform attack him at the end of the show. What a wonderful genre of music! The day that people stop asking their moms’ to sew shiny metal studs on to their JCPenny denim jackets will be a very sad day. God save the Queen
By Steve
December 10, 2009 5:25 PM | Link to this
I was frickin freezing, so once he declared it was his last song i took off for my long walk. I guess i didn’t miss an encore or anything but im disappointed i missed the “drama.”
By Dan
December 10, 2009 11:50 PM | Link to this
Well this guy deserves to be attacked, or at the least to be bumrushed and to have his instruments confiscated while he is forced to wash oil off of beach rocks, far from other human beings, for the rest of his disgusting life.
By Dug
December 11, 2009 12:02 AM | Link to this
I was their last night, It was the first time I have ever seen Jay Reatard, and the energy of the music really came through live in a way his recordings couldnt. And by the way the moshing was not really that violent it was fairly chill. I had a blast.
By john
December 11, 2009 7:55 AM | Link to this
jay played a 40 min set in dublin recently and i enjoyed it more than the 2.5 hr green day show i also recently attended.
By Matt
December 11, 2009 3:25 PM | Link to this
i used to live down the street from michael! good goin buddy!
By Cletis
December 12, 2009 1:38 AM | Link to this
Dudes, it’s 2009. Punks are aren’t even today’s deadheads anymore, that was the early 90s. It was a pose from the start and now it’s just more pig swill from the corporations to you.
By Dan
December 14, 2009 11:51 AM | Link to this
I was at a Reatard show Dec. 6 in Mobile, Ala., and he stopped playing 25 minutes into the set because someone spilled beer on the stage and one of his pedals wasn’t working. We felt the same way — a great time spoiled by an abrupt, puzzling ending.
By Akbro
January 15, 2010 4:29 PM | Link to this
R.I.P.