Fuck yeah, we could live like this…

Last night I took Dom to what I think was his third ever gig… Jack’s Mannequin at KOKO.

The Gay Blades opened, leaving Dom and I both pretty confused. Their music was a kind of wall of indie noise that showed signs of potential at some points and then went completely off the rails at others. However, the music always came second to the absolutely bizarre actions of their frontman. When not holding his guitar a loft in “I can haz guitar!” fashion, he was soulfully humping it across the stage. Pair that up with weird dance moves, attempting to get the audience to make sex noises (sorry honey, that’s so Gerard Way circa 2008… it’s been done) and general audience abuse, (all of you clap! Yes, you too, fuckface!) and it made for some pretty interesting viewing. And by the end of it Dom had invented an entire religious shunning story around their beardy drummer, “Sergio”.

Jack’s Mannequin came out to near hysteria from the surprisingly mixed in age and tribe audience. Andrew McMahon is instantly loveable. With the absolute passion and skill with which he plays his piano… barely able to sit behind it with enthusiasm to his charming and heartfelt lyrics, it’s impossible not to get caught up. The audience knew every word of every song and at times (Bruised, Holiday From Real, Dark Blue) they were almost drowning him out. The whole band’s glee at playing to such a receptive audience was apparent and it wasn’t hard for Andy to convince us all that he was having the time of his life… it was his birthday after all. The encore was a little bit special with Andy digging into the Something Corporate back catalogue and pulling out a gorgeous solo rendition of Punk Rock Princess before ending with a thunderous La-La-Lie. After waiting so long to see them , I was definitely not disappointed!

Here’s a little video of I’m Ready and some pics!