Rightfully regarded as one of the defining live acts of the past decade, and almost three years after breaking up the Revue and giving us the Righteous Mind, Jim Jones still plays music with an enthusiasm, charisma and intensity that would have appeared unsustainable ten years ago.
Conceptual in their approach, the RM’s put together a complete show that fits perfectly together in it’s vision of being outspoken, liberal and roots rock rebel. As a result, we get Combat Rock era outfits soldiered up with quiffs, rebel poses, hip shakes and killer riffs. It’s a tactic not too far removed from the early Who days and their ability to use striking images and gangfight stances to define their pop art and justify Haruki Murakami’s belief that ‘image is everything’.
Call and response calls to, er, funk the fascists, the racists and the Tories provide an extra level of intensity behind the Stooge esque guitar and ‘Shake Appeal’ piano playing; it’s a playing style desperate to confront anyone believing that public service announcements with guitars don’t happen anymore. This band continue to justify their placing at the top of the ‘best live act’ chart.
