The Troubador
L.A., CA
October 28, 1998
by Ralph
Bennett
photo of Jamie Harding (with Tomoko)
courtesy of Marion Interactive
live photo: L.A.,
1996
SELECT
o say Jaime Harding is thin is to say Liam Gallagher drinks a bit much.
You notice it more and more as the bright lights focus and the smoke clears.
You will also notice
an incredible (and LOUD) voice belonging to the guy with the black choppy hair and
amazing cheekbones as he effortlessly sways through songs I still love from five
years ago as well as new ones I have yet to own because I can't seem to find the
Japanese import of the new CD. And guess what? THAT IS WHY THEY ARE PLAYING LOS ANGELES;
to secure some kind of record deal, play and show the rest of the planet what a truly
important band they are. And to make hundreds of teenage girls run back home to put
on some dry undies because Jaime smiled at them. Me....? I was one of the 25 or so
who actually paid for a ticket amongst the throng of window shopping industry onlookers
and the 1995 NME curious.
If you really think people
such as Billy Corgan and those other MTV drama queens have good voices then WAIT
until this band from Manchester comes back around
So... they came
onstage to something off the latest "The Program" (produced by 'future'
Smiths member Johnny Marr) and yeah, I will say it once more, if you
really think people such as Billy Corgan and those other MTV drama queens
have good voices then WAIT until this band from Manchester comes back around. Think
of Bono before he got fat and Freddie Mercury before the mustache (ah,
Mr. Mercury - sorry for throwing you in with Bono but I need to make them understand).
Marion are the kind
of band that will do whatever the hell they feel like and the rest of the world can
catch up or just piss off. Take the newer material - almost gothic in ways and very
hard egded in others and everything sounds so tight and clear that it's a shame they
only played ONE city in The States this time around. I purposely missed the Halloween
show two nights later, cause why bother? There was nothing for the band to improve
upon. It was a kind of energy combined with subtle innuendo that the girls were screaming
for.
Oh yes there were
screams! Mostly when Jaime bent down for a drink and his pants slipped a bit and...well
the first thing we need to do is buy this man a BELT but what the hell. I can't tell
you how fantastic it was to hear things from the first album, "This World and
Body", like the remarkable "Sleep" (during which my friend Scarlett
yelled into my good ear for half the song... Scarlett also had paid for a ticket)
and the one time Mr. Skinny actually yelled during "The Only Way" was probably
the best moment the Troubador has seen since the Manics played there two years
ago.
And did I mention
Marion's guitarist does the coolest Pete Townsend windmills? No? Oh, ok. Well
there ya go. He seemed to enjoy ramming the headstock of his Les Paul into the amplifier
at the shows end. Wouldn't YOU?? Damn straight.
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