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Live Reviews
Live Review: Jenny and Johnny at 93 Feet East in London on 7 Dec
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 20 December 2010
“If you’ve got any questions, you can ask them now”, Johnathan Rice tells the crowd.
“Thanks for coming to Brick Lane on a Tuesday night”, one punter shouts from the back.
“That is not a question, sir.” Johnathan replies flippantly, cocking his guitar and flicking his slightly sweaty dirty-blond hair away from his face. “But you’re very fucking welcome”.
And so the attitude of Jenny and Johnny’s first of five London gigs is set in place – cool and collected, but tarred with a hint of (nevertheless endearing) loftiness.
It’s a long gig – but it’s in no way slugged out as the duo – both amazing solo artists in their own right – play every song from their debut ‘I’m Having Fun Now’, plus a few surprises and old favourites most of us (rabid fans) in the audience know very well. Jenny Lewis is a tiny redhead with a voice that could tear down walls, Johnathan Rice is her rough and world-weary partner in crime. I’d say she’s the June Carter to his Johnny Cash – but let’s not compare, because she’s definitely not sweet enough for that, and that’s a good thing.
After a good (bloody good) forty minutes of material from the aforementioned album plus a new song, J and J part ways for some solo treats, including Lewis’s excellent ‘Carpetbaggers’ which sends the crowd into a frenzy. They lift us up, and up again, and it is with this feeling so inexplicably high that I leave the building, safe in the knowledge that I ended the year with the best gig I’ve seen in 2010. TW
