Now normally I have refrained from saying anything that could be construed as negative about any of the bands I’ve gone to see and photograph for two reasons:
a) I’d give an arm and a leg to actually work with any of the bands I’ve gone to see/photograph in an actual professional capacity
b) most of the shows I’ve seen lately have been good and if the music wasn’t my cup of tea the performance itself was good at least
So while I’d still definitely say a) is true for jj, the show itself was such to me that I have to try and give some context to the photos. First of all I kind of expected the dude (Joakim??) from jj to actually be DJing or something while the songs were going . . . not so much. First song was Elin (??) just playing an acoustic guitar, this was nice but she was constantly just looking up at the ceiling and rolling her eyes not engaging the crowd much. Few more songs, just her singing to the videos and then old buddy decides to come onstage, I’m pretty sure completely out of his gourd. It was sweet in a way to see them hug and kiss but when he picked up the guitar, he really looked like he’d never seen one before which I’m sure wasn’t true but it may have been a new experience to his MIND!
I looked at some other photos of jj (as an aside holy shit the Cat’s Cradle is dark compared to that place) and didn’t see anything like what transpired at ours, but who knows maybe it happens pretty regularly, I wouldn’t be surprised given the band’s professed enjoyment of “enhancement”. So I wasn’t sure if the guit box was even plugged in because I couldn’t hear it at all but I checked some of my photos by cranking up the exposure and fill light and it was indeed plugged in but I guess they killed or seriously dampened the amplification on it. Which was probably a good thing since I’m pretty sure the strings were just being plucked at random at that point. I think old buddy stayed on stage for 2-4 songs and then left just about as awkwardly as he arrived, I think we had one more song and then as she was getting ready to start another one we had a bunch of smart guys start yelling stuff “like I want your first born baby”. She fiddled with the mic a little and then said “Thank you” and left.
Anyhow all the other acts at least said where they from, said thanks more than once and acted like they cared/wanted to be where they were, jj I’m not so sure of on that. Could have just been shyness or intoxication but still I hadn’t really seen anything quite like it over many years of show-going. It also could be some Swedish and/or European thing that goes over my fat American Cheeseburger head.
So without further ado, look at my photos of jj at the Cat’s Cradle
