RECAP / PHOTOS: The Jesus and Mary Chain plus The Psychic Paramount @ House of Blues – 9/5/12

To say I was disappointed when The Jesus and Mary Chain had to cancel their House of Blues show a few mounts ago would be a great understatement. As if that wasn’t enough, along came Isaac, another potential setback. However, the Music Gods were kind and disaster was averted – the show would be on. Thinking back now, I’m glad the other show was canceled, mainly because it would have been the band’s third gig after a far too long hiatus, which might’ve caused them to sound a tad rough. But, having a few mounts under their belts only helped tighten the band’s sound, so boy was I right.

The evening started out with No Quarter recording artists The Psychic Paramount, a three piece from New York. Having no microphones set up meant an unexpected treat for me, though, at first, maybe not for the other fifty or so people there. But by the end of the opener’s set the crowd had figured out what I already knew, these guys had a grasp on their music. Post-Rock comes in all shapes and forms, from the deeply melodic to the straight up progressive epics. The Psychic Paramount falls into the latter category (Imagine, if you will, Russian Circles meets Spiritualized, minus the vocals). The guys powered through a forty minute set of aggressive noise and roller coaster-like amazement. While The Psychic Paramount is by no means comparable to The Jesus and Mary Chain in musical stylings, they are quite comparable when it comes to their passion for the art.

I have been a fan of The Jesus and Mary Chain since Automatic came out, and on this night the setlist did not fail me on that count. The set was mostly composed of material from Psychocandy, Automatic, and Honey’s Dead. The band came out and played two crowd favorites right off the bat, including “Snakedriver” from The Crow soundtrack, then Automatic’s anthem “Head On.” Small talk was at a minimum, as the band was there for one purpose and that was to rock. Needless to say, the crowd responded in turn. After playing “Just Like Honey,” Jim Reid lamented, “You all look disappointed because we didn’t have any beautiful backup.” The song sounded amazing nonetheless. The set ended with another anthem of sorts, “Reverence,” from Honey’s Dead. The crowd went nuts and the masterpiece went on for what seemed hours, reverb and noise bouncing off every soul in that room. After a short break, the band came back and played three more classic tunes to wrap up the night.

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