Live Review - Jim Ward

January 3, 2012 – East Brunswick Club, Melbourne

Support: The Smith Street Band (Aus)

The people who attended last night’s performance at Melbourne’s East Brunswick Club will not likely forget what they saw.  In all the years I have been attending shows, I know I have never experienced anything quite like it.  So, I’m sure you can understand when I tell you that there is a great degree of difficulty deciding where to begin.  Do I set the tone by telling you about Ward’s last solo tour just a few months ago where he played the same venue, unaccompanied, to a sold out crowd of adoring fans?  Do I start by just coming out and letting you know exactly why this show was a difficult one to enjoy?  Do I leave out the emotional context and focus purely on the performance knowing that the readers of this blog will inevitably conclude, for the most part, that this was an average gig?  I guess the only way to begin a review of this show, would be to start at the beginning and see where it takes us.

The night began with Melbourne’s own The Smith Street Band.  They hit the stage with energy and gusto, performing their hearts out for what began as a small crowd that slowly built up as their set went on.  It’s no secret that I believe this band to be one of the shining lights of the Australian music scene.  While their profile may be relatively small now, I certainly hope they are given the opportunity to do what they do for a very long time to come.  They have a lot to overcome given the, sometimes fickle, nature of the Australian music scene, but if anyone’s got the talent to pull it off, it’s these guys.  If you don’t believe me, get yourself a copy of their debut album, No One Gets Lost Anymore, and hear it for yourself.  They are always playing so check out their facebook page (under Wil Wagner & The Smith Street Band) for the latest gig details and go check them out.  You won’t be disappointed.

Half an hour later when Jim Ward took the stage, this time backed by a full band, something seemed off.  The performance was a little sluggish, voices were slightly off key and some of the timing was out.  Ward seemed noticeably distracted, singing low and mumbling much of his lines.  All signs were pointing towards this gig being one that would be forgettable.  This was an incredibly surprising situation given that I had seen Ward three times before (twice with his band Sparta and I was at the aforementioned solo show played a few months ago) and had never been let down by any of his performances.  He seems to be the kind of performer who gives his all, regardless of who he is playing to, humbled and grateful that he has the opportunity to play all over the world for a living.  After the second song of the set, Ward spoke to the crowd and revealed the reason for what the crowd was witnessing.

Through tears and a cracking voice, Ward informed the crowd that, 48 hours prior to this show, he and his band mate Gabriel Gonzalez had been informed that a close friend of theirs had been murdered back home in El Paso, Texas.  Ward told the crowd that they had debated long and hard about playing the show.  The next flight they could get home wouldn’t be until Thursday and that they were likely to catch that flight and cancel their Friday night show in Sydney.  So, with being forced to stay in Australia for the next two days, and because their friend would have wanted them to, they were now standing in front of us, trying to play while their minds were elsewhere.  Ward also revealed that his friend’s family had very little money and so, he was selling signed posters with 100% of the proceeds going towards helping the girl’s family pay for funeral costs.  Not a single person in the crowd would have blamed Ward if he simply called off the show right then and there and they offered up a huge, encouraging applause as the band worked through their grief doing the only thing they’ve known how to do for the entirety of their adult lives (Ward co-founded seminal post-hardcore band, At The Drive-In, when he was seventeen).

As the night went on, Ward apologised profusely for bringing the mood down.  Many of his songs, particularly the ones about his home town and the people there, were given extra weight and he struggled with the occasional line.  There was a turning point towards the end of the show though, where the struggle seemed to stop and the songs became a kind of catharsis.  Ward became more passionate and some of the weight seemed to be lifted.  The crowd was no longer witnessing a man struggling with his grief.  They were seeing a performer expressing it with every fibre of his being.  This was never more evident that during the closing song of the night, Mystery Talks, which was originally written about the death of his cousin, Jeremy Ward (former sound manipulator for The Mars Volta).

It’s difficult to express the feeling in the room last night with words.  After all, words are merely labels and labels can only give you a hint of what is inferred, they cannot actually make you feel the emotions they often falsely represent.  What I can tell you though is that the applause of at the end of the show was not your usual display of appreciation at having witnessed a good performance.  It was an offer of encouragement and support for Ward and Gonzalez during a deeply personal time that few people can truly relate to.  The large line that formed to buy the posters Ward spoke of earlier in the night furthered this sense of support and solidarity.

As I’ve already said, I have never quite witnessed anything like this at a gig before and, while the performances towards the end of the night were nothing short of brilliant, I hope the reason for them being so is never repeated.  If you, for whatever reason, would like to donate money to the girl’s family, Ward stated that he would set up a link to do so on his blog.  At the time of publishing this review, the link is not yet there, but keep checking back over the next few days.  My next reviews will come next week with Beirut’s Forum Theatre show, Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackette’s performance at The Queen Victoria Night Market and the opening show of Circles’ Eye Embedded east coast tour at The Corner Hotel.