Concert Review: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Showcase New Album, Old Favourites in Toronto

By: Curtis Sindrey –
Follow @Aesthetic_Mag

If The Brian Jonestown Massacre (BJM) don’t make you want to pick up a guitar (or tambourine) and jam with your friends, you’re dead inside.

BJM is vintage, yet modern. They sound like they could be a 70s band, but would fit perfectly fine on a Coachella stage. Their unique sensibilities, led by defacto leader Anton Newcombe, and their tight collective sound, make them a must-see live act.

If it sounds like a jumble of noise, you’re not listening close enough. Slicing guitar lines, sharp-tongued vocals, and even a tambourine player in Joel Gion solidify their timeless sound.

Weaving through a 24-song set list last night (April 4th) at Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Newcombe and company sounded as sonically tight as ever with their signature blend of psychedelic rock with twinges of country, folk, shoegaze, and blues. The set had a strong blend of new material like new single “The Real”, and new album cuts “You Think I’m Joking?”, and “Number one lucky kitty”, and BJM classics like “Nevertheless”, “When Jokers Attack”, and “Pish”.

Expected to drop a new album titled Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees on June 24th via A Recordings, The Brian Jonestown Massacre are at the peak of their creative powers, and have proven themselves to be the real deal.

Set-List

1. We Never Had a Chance
2. Your Mind is My Cafe
3. Charmkins Attack
4. The Future is Your Past
5. The Real
6. Fudge
7. Anenome
8. Nevertheless
9. Number one lucky kitty
10. Do Rainbows Have Ends?
11. Drained
12. Wait a Minute (2:30s to be exact)
13. Pish
14. Servo
15. You Think I’m Joking?
16. Don’t Let Me Get in Your Way
17. The Devil May Care
18. Hold That Thought
19. The Mother of All Fuckers
20. Forgotten Graves
21. When Jokers Attack
22. Sailor
23. A Word
24. Abandon Ship