Last Thursday, Jenny Lewis played a special show at Spaceland. Having announced an entire national tour around the September 23rd release of her new album Acid Tongue her fans in her native Los Angeles were starting to get worried that we were going to be ignored but alas with a week’s notice she announced two shows at the very intimate Spaceland and The Echo. Tickets sold out fast.
The opening acts featured the solo efforts of two of her bandmates. Drummer Barbara Grusko opened the night with her brother as Belle Brigade and did their best re-interpretation of the Moldy Peaches. Lewis’ bass player Jonathan Wilson is widely known around the LA scene for his guitar playing and his band features many of his stoned out jams complete with many solo’s. A growing packed house was wildly anticipating Jenny Lewis and unfortunately because of that, both opening acts were largely ignored and barely tolerated.
The first show of her tour and her two LA performances ended up being the live debut of a handful of the new tracks that make up Acid Tongue. Her all star band was composed of her boyfriend (and spaceland recording artist) Johnathan Rice on guitar and vocals, Wilson on bass, Grusko on drums, Blake Mills on guitar and Farmer Dave Scher (Beachwood Sparks, Interpol) on Lapsteel and Keys. Lewis looked like she was right at home at Spaceland, the venue that Rilo Kiley cut their teeth at in their indie days so it was a fitting scene for her to reveal many of her new songs and her new band.
Lewis started her set with a few of the new tracks from Acid Tongue including “Trying My Best To Love You” and “Pretty Bird” before treating the audience with a couple they knew from Rabbit Fur Coat, “The Charging Sky” and “Rise Up With Fists”. Between Wilson, Grusko, Rice and Scher’s backing vocals they came close to making up for the lack of The Watson Twins, except in later songs like “Melt Your Heart” where they were truly missed. The rest of the very hot set was mostly filled with new tracks and the big standouts included “Bad Man’s World”, ”Jack Killed Mom” and a special duet cover of “Love Hurts” from Lewis and Rice. The band ended their set with “Sing A Song” and roaring, sweat drenched audience who despite the heat and the late time wanted more from their hometown heroine, so without much delay, Lewis and band returned to end the night with “See Fernando” and “Godspeed”. Though Spaceland Recordings was not there to record this show, it is another fine example of the level of quality music coming out of the Spaceland venues and how their constant reputation for churning out the cream of the indie crop brings back some of the biggest stars.
