February 8, 2001

Stereophonics: New York Irving Plaza

Kelly Jones performs material from forthcoming Stereophonics album 'J.E.E.P.'...

"If you're wondering where the drummer is, his wife is about to drop a baby at any minute," says Kelly Jones. It's an explanation for the absence of Stuart Cable on stage tonight, but it's more by way of simply imparting information - no one was expecting to see Stuart tonight, anyway, at this acoustic gig, the second of nine U.S. dates to showcase material off the new Stereophonics album, J.E.E.P.

There are four people involved in the show, all seated (as is the crowd) - Kelly, Stereophonics bassist Richard Jones, additional guitarist Scott James and keyboardist Tony Kirkham. What rapidly becomes apparent however, is that despite what it says on the ticket, this is really much more of a Kelly Jones show than a Stereophonics show.

New material dominates the set, with eight of J.E.E.P.'s eleven tracks getting their first public New York airing, beginning with the sadly sweet 'Lying In The Sun', followed by the rollicking upcoming single, 'Mr. Writer', which is great fun, despite the ominous anti-journalist lyric, "I'd like to shoot you all". There are three covers in the set, starting with a version of Rod Stewart's 'Handbags And Gladrags' that sees Kelly, who puts down his guitar for the song, sounding so uncannily like old Rod that if you close your eyes, you'd
swear it was him.

The other two, which come during the encore, are a rousing 'Don't Let Me Down' and Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold', complete with the harmonica parts, courtesy of Kirkham, to close out the evening. The highlight of the new material is definitely 'Watch Them Fly Sundays', a tearful ballad with the emotional force of 'A Minute Longer' or 'Billy Davey's Daughter', which is also brought out for the show.

Along with the rest of the new songs, it echoes Kelly's final words to the crowd before leaving the stage: "Don't forget that music is about songwriting". Which is all well and good for Kelly Jones, singer/songwriter, but in light of the performance, and a new album that mirrors it stylistically - with the exception of two tracks, 'Rooftop' and 'Vegas Two Times', both absent from tonight's set list - one can't help but wonder if the 'new' Stereophonics aren't rapidly becoming a solo artist simply masquerading as a band.

Doug Levy

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