Rickie Lee Jones at the Barbican
Like Bob Dylan, Rickie Lee Jones gives a great deal of ongoing thought to how she presents her songs in terms of musical arrangement. Such care is never allowed to outweigh the feeling of freshness and spontaneity, even when the material concerned is getting on for half a century old, as were the five songs from her debut album, written when she was barely into her twenties, included in last night’s 90-minute set.
Her current touring band includes the brilliant Ben Rosenblum on accordion, piano and harmony vocals, the divine Petra Haden on violin, percussion and harmony vocals, and the very fine Vilray Bolles on Fender Telecaster. It’s a beautifully dextrous and flexible unit, capable of handling the way Jones likes to stretch songs such as the opening “Weasel and the White Boys Cool”, “We Belong Together” and “Living It Up” into woozy mini-symphonies.
Just about everything about the evening was deeply enjoyable, including her very funny introductions and digressions and a couple of wonderful extended solos on the standards she inserted in the middle of the set: deft jazz guitar from Bolles on “On the Sunny Side of the Street”, swooning accordion from Rosenblum on “Hi-Lilli, Hi-Lo”. When Haden and Rosenblum joined Jones for the high harmonies, particularly on “Weasel” and “We Belong Together”, the effect was spine-tingling.
Gradually she drew the audience into a closer involvement, which seemed to deepen when she talked about when she sang “Bonfires”, the very plain, folk-based break-up song which was written for 2009’s Balm in Gilead but sounds about a thousand years old.
The last half-hour was a beautiful slide through “The Horses”, written at the end of the 1980s for her infant daughter, the emotional exposure of “Coolsville”, the gorgeous “A Tree on Allenford” (from 2003’s The Evening of My Best Day), and, as a valediction, the immortal “Last Chance Texaco”. Pretty close to a perfect night.
* Rickie Lee Jones is at the Apex, Bury St. Edmunds, tonight (May 27), Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry on May 29 and the RNCM Theatre in Manchester on May 30.
Thanks for an insightful review of what was a beautiful evening’s music. And thank you for catching the guitarist’s name. His playing, much like the others, was the definition of ‘less is more’.
Truly she is one of the greatest songwriters and performers of our time.
I really enjoyed it too, the lack of an encore a bit surprising all the same. Petra Haden is the daughter of the late Charlie Haden the groundbreaking bass player and band leader
I was so hoping that you would be at The Barbican and write a review. You capture in wonderful words the joyous experience that I had seeing RLJ in Cardiff on Monday evening.
It was a privilege despite the suffocating heat that forced her to cut short the set.
Thanks Richard
I was surprised that there was no encore, despite a raucous standing ovation. But a later look at Setlist.fm informed me that RLJ has generally been playing short sets of 10-15 songs this year (we got 13). I’d seen the notice outside the auditorium saying “8:00-9:30” and thought that she’d blow past that. But no, she was off at 9:25.
What we got was always enjoyable and sometimes superb, but given her mighty canon I would have expected a few songs more, perhaps with an interval.
Do yourselves a favour and check out “Petra Haden sings The Who Sell Out”! A capella. An incredible album!
How lovely to read about this show and learn that Ms. Jones, one of my all-time favorite recording artists, is still going strong in concert. Thank you for your review.
(Apologies if this overlaps earlier unsubscribed comment)
A perfect review of a wonderful concert. A beautifully paced 90 minute show. Only slightly spoiled by lousy Barbican acoustics blanking out the fender guitar for us in the side circle.
I’m so glad to read this. I felt the same after seeing a very similar group last June in Northampton, Massachusetts (Mike Dillon on percussion, not Vilray Bolles on that occasion although I’ve also heard him with her elsewhere). I heard her twice in 1979 (including Carnegie Hall), and having been hearing her live every chance I get since 2008. It’s always a great experience (and not predictable or repetitive), but the concerts with Petra Haden have been especially magical for me. I first heard them together in 2008 (Kenny Wollesen on drums) and occasionally since. Vilray also performs with Rachael Price, a very nice duo, and Petra with Bill Frisell and her own projects.
Just home from her show at Warwick Arts Centre. It was a lovely show but so surprised at no encore. The end seemed abrupt. Great to hear her version of Sympathy For The Devil again.