Music review: The Jesus & Mary Chain, Barrowland, Glasgow

The Jesus and Mary Chain PIC: Mel Butler

The Jesus & Mary Chain, Barrowland, Glasgow ****

Like many of the great rock’n’roll stylists, The Jesus & Mary Chain have held fast to their raw ingredients, inspired by a Lou Reed-patented blend of Brill Building songwriting classicism deliberately tainted with darker lyrical matter.

Judging by the age range of the crowd at the second of two Barrowland gigs, this fidelity of sound and stance has resonated beyond their original fanbase, meaning that their live celebration of second album Darklands was more than simply a nostalgia exercise. But what sweet nostalgia if you were so inclined, marking the point when the East Kilbride urchins dialled down the chaos and distortion in favour of mellow, melancholic songwriting and commercial appeal.

The title track alone heralded a reset for the Mary Chain from combative nihilism to wistful languor, while their love of country music filtered through on Deep One Perfect Morning.

Hit singles Happy When It Rains and April Skies, both celebratory pop with a noir niggle, have aged very well, along with the girl group melodies, peppy rhythm and rock'n'roll guitar of Down on Me. The dirge-like, grinding Nine Million Rainy Days, with its Rolling Stones-referencing mantra, and the mean Stooges snarl of Fall were admirably brazen in their borrowing.

After the briefest of breaks, their second set kicked off with a couple of Darklands-era tracks but then ranged right through their career to impressive comeback album Damage and Joy, affording the opportunity to ramp up the volume on the rambunctious I Love/Hate Rock'n'Roll, surf punk revels Moe Tucker and Kill Surf City and the immortal Never Understand.

Never the slickest operators, there were a few false starts along the way but they powered through in the end, unlike support band Rev Magnetic who had to abort their set after a couple of songs when frontman Luke Sutherland injured himself pogoing.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription at https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions