Jah Wobble or John Joseph Wardle was a long time friend of John Lydon so it was almost inevitable that when the Sex Pistols imploded, Lydon would look to his old friend to form a new band, which they did, the legendary Public Image Limited. Jah left the band after two albums and has gone from strength to strength with collaborations with the likes of Can’s Holger Czukay, U2’s The Edge, Brian Eno, Ministry’s Chris Connelly, Sinead O`Connor and Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker.
Tonight was billed as Metal Box – Rebuilt in Dub as JW had reimagined PIL`s second album in a dub style and released his version last November.
If you were expecting a run through of the album, think again as very quickly into this two hour set we realised we`d entered the weird but all-encompassing wonderful world of Jah Wobble. As this artist has released thirty albums which have touched on topics and subjects as diverse as William Blake, Elevator Music, Car Ads, and the Bus Routes of South London, should we have been surprised. Aiding and abetting JW tonight were Martin Chung (guitar), Jon Klein (guitar, backing vocals), George King (synthesizers, laptop, backing vocals) and Marc Layton-Bennett (drums), who are otherwise the Invaders of the Heart and what a heart they are, beating solid all night even when their leader gave them a slight arrhythmia at times.
Amongst the Metal Box numbers, the hypnotic `The Suit` was shared early on. There`s a rendition of “now is the winter of our discontent” a quotation from William Shakespeare`s Richard lll which led into `Poptones` which was delightfully introspective. As the show progressed JW & TIOTH veered off in many directions with funk vibes, jazz like excursions and nigh on heavy metal poundings as they took us on a voyage of joyful musical dexterity, deftness, and discovery.
Martin Chung seemed to be the straight man for JW`s humorous witticisms as he tried to share his advice, knowledge, and guidance with this talented axeman. We enjoyed two versions of Public Image with the soundman Reece encouraged to add reverb and send the noise and dub decibels to levels that may have been harmful to health on the latter deep dddddduuuuubbbbb version.
`Careering` was a further track that took us to another dimension and JW felt as if the night had become a happening rather than just another gig.
`Tchaikovsky`s Swan Lake / Death Disco` is shared with JW showing of his ballet poses before closing out this evening with `Bad Baby` and the mesmerising `Graveyard`.
What can you say about a Jah Wobble gig? Well, it`s a journey to be lived and enjoyed as Jah takes us by the hand and leads us like a spirit guide along a long and winding musical experience.
I got to see Frank Zappa many years ago but never saw Captain Beefheart or Can and I imagine that if I did it would be something like this, which I experienced tonight.
Stealing a quote from that well known Swedish pop supergroup Jah Wobble and The Invaders of The Heart – “thank you for the music and for giving it to me” hope to see you again real soon.
