A fine Thursday evening in Edinburgh as I make my well-worn trip down the High Street to Bannermans for Jizzy Pearl’s Acoustic Songs & Stories Tour – but first up we have Richy Neill from Richy Neill and the Reinforcements doing a solo acoustic support.
The majority of the set comes from the band’s fabulous Life Stories EP out last year. He opens with “Wings of Icarus” and it’s clear he has a fabulous voice in that nice classic rock style. We get “How You See Me” before “We Take another Drink” and then a new track “Wishing Well” which bodes well for the upcoming release. We end a short but very enjoyable set with another from last years EP, “The Complex”.
Richy’s set was really enjoyable for a few reasons. Richy has a great voice and engaged with the crowd really well, and also the way he used the pedal sets for samples to go with the acoustic versions of the band’s songs. It was very interesting to watch how he used them all as extra instruments. I would urge you to go see the man solo or with the full band, either way, you will have a most enjoyable experience with him and his music.
Now the legend that is Jizzy Pearl. Having recently played here with the full electric band, the man is now back doing his acoustic tour with Stevie Pierce on supporting acoustic guitar and Christian Kimmett on acoustic bass for a few of the songs. We get numbers from Wasted in America with the title track, “Miss America” and “Cream” setting the mood in amazing style. I’ve said it before but the man’s voice is just getting better all the time and when you are playing acoustic there is nowhere to hide if it is not up to scratch… but no worries there tonight.
We also get stories from the Sunset Strip days. If any of you have seen the Motley Crue film The Dirt on Netflix, then this man was there working his ass off along with his band Love/Hate and all those others to get a record deal. We get the tales of getting signed, the strippers and of course the Hollywood sign story and all else in between. This is a man who has come through the Dirt and out the other side all the better for it. There are no airs and graces with Jizzy, no rock god big head or ego. This is a man comfortable in his own skin and it always shows at his gigs be they electric or like tonight, acoustic and stories.
The solo songs along with those from Love/Hate are played to perfection tonight and they have always transferred well into acoustic versions. With the likes of “Spinning Wheel” and “Social Sidewinder”, and a fabulous version of “Love Hurts” from Nazareth (my all time favourite Scottish band and one of Jizzy’s as well) this was a wonderful collection of songs. We get a couple of solo tracks in “You Don’t Know What It’s Like” from last years amazing All You Need Is Soul album plus the fantastic “Better Days” from Just a Boy.
Jizzy ends a fantastic night with “She’s an Angel” and the finalé is, what else, but “Blackout in the Red Room”. I love his electric sets but there is just something special about his acoustic nights where he really connects with the audience. Not much more to say but if you get the chance, go see the acoustic shows when he does them as there is real passion and soul put into each and every song and story he recites, a true living rock star who is a real nice down to earth guy who has been there, done it and survived with the t-shirt to prove it.
Photos by Gary Cooper
Setlist:
- Wasted in America
- Miss America
- Cream
- StraightJacket
- Spinning Wheel
- Love Hurts
- Social Sidewinder
- Better Days
- You Don’t Know What It’s Like
- Do You Wanna Get High
- Don’t Fuck With Me
- She’s an Angel
- Blackout in the Red Room
