Brian Jonestown Massacre LIVE @ Birmingham O2 Academy 07.07.14

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Ever dreamt of a band that weren’t from the sixties, but had the ability and foresight to be able to replicate the psychedelic aura from that amazing decade? Well the Brian Jonestown Massacre band are the ones you need to check out. On the back of their 14th album, Revelation, they’ve recently played at Glastonbury, London’s Roundhouse, Norwich, Bristol, Nottingham, Newcastle and now Birmingham as part of their latest UK tour.

The eight piece band took to the stage bang at 9pm in front of a packed out crowd at the O2 Academy in Birmingham last night (July 7), and produced an astonishing two hour set leaving the packed crowd in attendance feeling the cool vibes reverberating off of Anton Newcombe’s guitar and Joel Gion’s maracas. Anton is a genius to say the least. His ability to keep churning out breathtaking music and orchestrate that among his eight-piece band is a sight to behold. The craftsmanship in the live situation compels your head to flop from side to side as the long winding tunes blossom into a thing of beauty.

Guitar music is a strange yet dazzling concept. Quite often naive people think guitar tunes are drenched in heavy riffs but that couldn’t be further from the truth. With this band originally from San Francisco every tune is light, airy and free. The set included hit records, ‘Anenome’, ‘Prozac Vs Heroin’, ‘Got My Eye On You’, ‘Oh Lord’, ‘Days Weeks And Moths’, ‘What You Isn’t’, ‘Goodbye (Butterfly)’, ‘Who?’ and ended with a mind blowing version of ‘When Jokers Attack’ to leave everyone cheering for more.

It was a beautiful array of tunes which summed up why Brian Jonestown Massacre stands head and shoulders above other bands in this day and age. They’re experts in their own right; as they make you appreciate that good music isn’t about huge lighting with top nick effects. Brian Jonestown Massacre reconfirm to me that good music is still alive, just sometimes in the contemporary world we all get side tracked by artists playing on big stages in front of the millions of eyes.

Sam Lightle

@SamLightle