I went down on Friday night to Charlottesville to see Shooter Jennings at Starr Hill. Great venue (@250 person capacity), and Charlottesville in the spring isn't to be passed up.
Got to the show @ 9, opening band was miserable (standard garage band music) and ended at 9:45. I figured it would lead to a long set by SJ. By 10:30 he was not on stage.
11:00 - nothing
11:30 - nothing
Finally at 11:39 his band saunters on and he shortly follows, stumbling, dragging a bottle of JD (which looked not to be open). His voice was awful, he sounded holllow and tired, and he proceeded to play the first four songs from his new album. In order. No rest, just twenty minutes of off-key rambling and incoherent babble. Awful.
The next 30 minutes didn't improve, as his cocky personality/insobriety were lost on anyone in the crowd with a discerning ear to good music. Worst show I have ever seen. I left after fifty minutes, and it was already 12:45.
In summation, you can't keep a crowd waiting for almost two hours and dispense verbal vomit, especially if you are a no talent hack, succeeding on a combination of your lineage and an extremely savy producer capable of alchemy; able to take your piss voice and garbage musical ability and produce a decent album (Electric Rodeo). The only problem is when it comes to playing live, you are overshadowed by your album, making it obvious you had little input on the final product. Thankfully, your music career will probably be resigned to tantalizing the screetching 17-year-olds and local simpletons who seemed to be enjoying your drivel; guaranteeing you no critical acclaim for what you pass as country, but is really a contrived mixture of PR promotion delivered in four minute intervals.
2 comments:
Shooter is a no-talent idiot. I just ran monitors for him on a show and he pathetically tried to play a keyboard, and wasn't much better on guitars. A little prick for sure.
Shooter asked me to join his band in 2008. He announced me as an official .357 and I spent a year on the road with him. I have never had to be so supportive of a frontman. I have never been treated worse by an employer. If you're wondering if the opinions on this blog are accurate, they are. Also, he handed his daughter off to some of the most insane dangerous people I've ever met. He's extremely threatened by honest people and talent. You do the math. Everything I was involved in with him has been stripped from the internet including late night appearances, CMT specials, recordings, everything. I was engineering, playing guitar, and co producing records with Andy Johns and Alan Parsons at the time and he told me he'd never work with either of them because he was going for a psychedelic rock sound. So, add insane to the list.
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