Show Review - The Fighting Jamesons w/ Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
The NorVA - Norfolk, VA - 9-08-2012
So, while I'm not Irish my wife is half Irish and half Scottish... this means we tend to see several Celtic acts a year. The acts include Great Big Sea, Flogging Molly, and now The Fighting Jamesons. The trip down to this show started with my interest in seeing Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band with the wife, who missed their show here locally when I first saw them. For this review, I'm going to start there and move onto The Fighting Jamesons...
Revered Peyton's Big Damn Band
After a 6-hour drive to Norfolk, VA from our home in Harrisburg, PA we were quite ready for a good show. Having seen The Reverend and Company perform here in Harrisburg several months ago, I kinda knew what to expect from this set: Some serious guitar picking by the Rev, crazy washboard playing by Breezy, and Cuz hammering on the drums... the three-piece Big Damn Band has a much larger sound then their 3-piece status would seem to support. This is accomplished in part by the Rev's ability to play a bass line using just his thumb, while his other fingers pick the lead. This was clearly demonstrated right before "Big Blue Chevy '72" was played as the Rev gave us a demo jam of how he plays. So if you think you hear a bass guitar on the Rev's albums, guess again it's all the Rev. The high-energy set included tunes like "Mama's Fried Potatoes", "Clap Your Hands" (easily one of the high points of their set), "Devils Look Like Angels", and the highly energetic closing song "2 Bottles of Wine" during which we witnessed a flaming washboard on stage. The Big Damn Band showed no signs of slowing down during their entire set, right through the final tune. The Big Damn Band went from stage to merch stand to hang out with their fans before the Jamesons took the stage.. refreshing to see in today's music scene. Any fans of Southern Rock/Blues should check these guys out when they come to a town near you. Otherwise, fire up Spotify or YouTube and just listen away! Head over to http://www.bigdamnband.com for more info on the group!
The Fighting Jamesons
Now, onto the headlining act - The Fighting Jamesons. Until this show I had only heard the Jamesons on Spotify and YouTube. This was our first live experience with the group, native to VA Beach and Norfolk. Prior to the show I had the chance to talk with Mike and Ryan of the Jamesons a little bit, and realized these were really fun guys... always a good sign for a good show. Songs like "Ghost Ship Baltimore", "Tell Me Ma", and "Whiskey in a Jar" opened what was a high-energy set put on by the Jamesons. I'm not one personally for mosh pits, so we were luckily set up right in the front row under Geo - the lead guitar player for the Jamesons. With the relative safety that comes with being up on the rail, we settled in for a nice energetic set. The Jamesons did NOT disappoint when it came to that. "Sink", "Seven Drunken Nights" (featuring an audience member on stage doing Jameson shots throughout the song), and "Mid the Green Fields of Virginia" (a June Carter Cash cover) all brought good energy to the room. Another cover kind of took us by surprise as the band launched into "The Theme from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", which was instantly followed by 2 of my favorite songs by these guys "Drunken Sailor", and "Johnny on the Island" (dedicated to the US Armed Forces). The crowd was fully engaged during the entire set. Tell me they're a small group all you want, that room of about 1,000 people didn't seem to think so. Their sound also wasn't "little" by any means. The closing jam, which included members of The Big Damn Band was "The Irish Rover", which blew the roof off the place. After their set, the Jamesons took time to come down and chat with the fans, take pictures, sign autographs, and in one instance make sure a drunken fan had a safe way home. This kind of fan interaction by a band isn't always seen and was refreshing to see this night from both acts. For more info on the Jamesons go to http://www.thefightingjamesons.com/
The Jamesons with members of the Big Damn Band during "Irish Rover"
To sum up, both acts are quite energetic and make a good combo when playing together. Hopefully we'll see more of these guys touring together in the future. The music, combined with the personalities of the band members from both groups made this quite a fun night out for myself and my wife. We would certainly travel back down south to see these guys again... our thanks goes out to the members of both bands for their time both pre and post show. Remember to check them out on their websites, on YouTube or on Spotify and if you like what you hear, go to the show!
Fluff and Mike Suzy & Geo
Written By - Fluff
