Words and Pictures: Adrian Hextall / (C) MindHex Media
With some 20+ Top 40 hits between them, Jesus Jones, EMF, and Echobelly dominated the charts during the late 80s and early 90s effortlessly crossing both the indie and alternative-dance music genres. The bands appealed to the fans of all of them and it’s no surprise that that success spread outside of the UK and across the water to the US where, for example, EMF hit No.1 on the Billboard singles chart with the classic ‘Unbelievable’.
Our show at The Forum, formally the Town & Country Club, as it was known when I first saw Jesus Jones there in the early 90s, is a co-headline affair. Echobelly were set to open the evening with EMF following with a 75 minute set and Jesus Jones closing the night with the same amount of stage time.
Echobelly
Coming into the fold a few years later than both EMF and Jesus Jones, Echobelly debuted in 1993 with their their EP, ‘Bellyache’. The favourable response including gushing press reviews and sold out gigs ensured the securing of a recording contract leading to their first single, ‘Insomniac’ and the album, ‘Everyone’s Got One’ which did reasonable business in the UK. The band to date still contains both Glenn Johansson and vocalist / lyricist Sonya Madan and, like our headliners, it gives the whole show a sense of timelessness as we get to see and hear all of the songs performed as the should be by the right people.
With the doors opening early and the band coming on some 15 minutes earlier than expected, proceedings kicked off at 7pm and a fairly full Forum took to Echobelly from the off. I’ll be honest, despite my friend telling me “you know this one , you know this one”, I’ll be honest, I didn’t. So for me, seeing Echobelly live for the first time was a true ‘always watch the opening band moment’ because they sounded as fresh and energised as I assume they did back in the day. A great, welcome and fascinating start to the evening’s proceedings.
SETLIST
I Can’t Imagine the World Without Me
We Know Better
Great Things
Iris Art
Fear of Flying
Father, Ruler, King, Computer
Car Fiction
If the Dogs Don’t Get You, My Sisters Will
Scream
King of the Kerb
Dark Therapy
EMF
The first of our headliners, EMF, were founded in late 1989. The dance-rock quintet hit the big time with platinum certified debut album, ‘Schubert Dip’ in 1991. Selling over a million copies of your debut is no mean feat and it’s thanks to debut single “Unbelievable” the track that stormed up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and is still used and heard in all places even now. I fell in love with them from day one thanks in no small part to songs like “I Believe,” “Children”, “Lies”, “Perfect Day”, “It’s You” and more. The band would take an extended break following the release of ‘Cha Cha Cha’ in 1995 although reuniting for special live shows and festivals since then has maintained the interest and enjoyment of both band members and fans alike. Their acclaimed comeback album ‘Go Go Sapiens’ dropped in 2022 to great critical acclaim. Latest album, ’The Beauty And The Chaos’. is also out and the lead single “Hello People” even featured a guest appearance by Stephen Fry. “Reach For The Lasers” is also out there and maintains the band’s ability to produce those summer club \ festival crossover bangers.
With a t-shirt proclaiming “Life Ruined My Drugs” eternal raver James Atkin knows (and has always known) how to work a crowd. His manner, infectious smile and relaxed approach remains one of the reasons that EMF continue to draw crowds to their own shows and more importantly sees them continuing to rise up the festival bills across the UK and the rest of Europe. It’s about time the band returned properly, their swan song in 1995, ‘Cha Cha Cha’ left a strange taste in the mouth as we simply weren’t ready for that music at the time.
Thankfully the band saw sense and the two most recent albums contain not only the spirit but also the true EMF sound that was so prevalent on their first two releases. It means that the music on offer tonight blends old and new perfectly and everything sounds like it was written only yesterday instead of some 30 years ago. The band however are not afraid of embracing their past and latest single ‘Reach For The Lasers’ turned into a great medley of classic bangers that even contained a nod or two to Jesus Jones as well.
With a guest appearance from Carter USM’s Jim Bob on ‘Children’, a cover of ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ , something the band really should make their own and record, the set flew past with hit ‘I’m A Believer’ and EMF triggering big singalongs at the end.
By the end, we were buzzing and we STILL had JJ to come on. They would have to do something pretty special to top this.
SETLIST
The Day the Music Died
I Believe
Lies
Read the Room
They’re Here
Reach for the Lasers (with snippets of Chime/Pump Up The Jam/Dominator/Breathe/Info Freako/Born Slippy/Hey Boy Hey Girl)
Children (with Jim Bob)
Long Summer Days
Just Can’t Get Enough (Depeche Mode cover)
Unbelievable
I’m a Believer (Neil Diamond cover)
Inside
EMF
Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones were formed in Wiltshire in 1988, essentially making them neighbours to EMF. Debut album ‘Liquidizer’ (1989) smashed it out of the park and ensured that the band rode the crest of the indie wave at the time. Huge success in the early 1990s followed with major hits including “Real Real Real”, “Right Here, Right Now”, “International Bright Young Thing”, “The Devil You Know” and many more. Their most recent album ‘Passages’ came out in 2018 so we must be due something soon I reckon. Celebrating their 35th Anniversary this was always going to be great fun.
That they needed to pull out all of the stops to continue the buzz and energy set by EMF was no surprise to Jesus Jones. The hits, all of them, needed to be rolled out in short order and having seen the band several times in the last few years, both as support and headliner, it’s fair to say they did what was asked of them and then some.
Like EMF, Jesus Jones’s sound is unique, distinctive and, frankly, we simply don’t have artists like them any more that creates tunes like they do. From ‘Move Mountains’ and ‘Zeros and Ones’, JJ kept the party going. Looking around the venue, smiles were wide, hands were in the air and drinks were sloshing around as if the £7 a pint price tag meant nothing to the couple of thousand people present.
The highlight for me was watching (as always) Iain Baker traverse the stage as if he had ants in his pants. He’s never still, he always moves more than the average keyboard player ever does and his enthusiasm to the cause is by far and away one of the most infectious things about a Jesus Jones performance. Mike Edwards remains the Peter Pan of the band. Rock star thin, never aging, I’m all sorts of jealous but fair play to him. He does exactly what I want from a front man and maintains the look and feel of the guy I first saw on stage in this venue 30+ years ago.
With favourite tune ‘Real Real Real’ causing me to “lose my shit” as they say for a few minutes, the band continued and closed the set with ‘Info Freako’ (as expected) with some help from EMF (not expected).
All in all an amazing modern retro, dance infused indie rock night out. We need more of these!
SETLIST
Move Mountains
Zeroes and Ones
Still Smiling
Bring It on Down
Never Enough
Two and Two
International Bright Young Thing
Where Are All the Dreams?
The Devil You Know
Right Here, Right Now
What Would You Know?
Real, Real, Real
Who? Where? Why?
Encore:
Idiot Stare
Info Freako (with EMF)
About Author
