19/12/2011 St Jude @ The Scala

Subject	St Jude @ The Scala
DateCreated	1/4/2012 3:55:00 PM
PostedDate	1/5/2012 11:27:00 PM
	Out to a gig for the third night in a row, but this one isn't in Islington and doesn't feature Ginger. It does however feature an outrageously priced bar, so after one pint I give it up as a bad job. The Scala is an old cinema and a slightly odd venue. I don't mind it though - apart from when it is packed. Like tonight. The show is sold out, and I only just arrive in time. St Jude don't seem to play many gigs, and the few that to do play seem carefully managed to ensure they sell out... Crafty management? Frustrating for fans though.  It's one of those gigs where it's really difficult to find a place to stand where you can get a good view unless you are going rudely to barge your way to the front - which I'm not prepared to do while clutching a very expensive pint that I don't want to spill a drop of! Unlike the beer, the ticket was cheap at around a tenner and great value for money - and for once the sound mix was actually good. St Jude played for well over an hour, and the band's performance couldn't be faulted. I had heard that earlier lineups of St Jude weren't so hot as a live band, but the current lot are really tight - although Lynne Jackaman is obviously the star and the band is to a large extent a vehicle for her to shine over. The retro sound of the band is hardly the most original, but they have some decent songs. I think virtually the whole of the debut album 'Diary Of A Soul Fiend' is played tonight, along with a cover or two, and also some new songs - a couple of the new ones sound really good. Album track 'Pleased To Meet You' is particularly impressive tonight. It's not my usual sort of rock 'n' roll crowd at this gig and I feel a bit out of place - most of those present seem in their fifties+. There are a few younger people, but some of them look like they came with their parents. There I think lies the problem St Jude face; You can't fault the quality of the music, the band are excellent players, and there is definitely some good songwriting. The trouble is, this style of music mainly appeals to a certain older age group - the 1960's -1980's nostalgia crowd. These people don't get out much these days - they mostly don't go to gigs anymore, and they don't buy many CDs either. These are armchair music fans, and most of the ones who would actually like St Jude have never actually heard of them - because they stopped listening to new music 20 or 30 years ago. I don't know how the band are ever going to break out of this small niche they seem to have dug themselves in the 'Classic Rock' wall. The thing is, it seems to be only the above mentioned and the 'pub rock' crowd who are likely to discover St Jude - the band might have painted themselves into a bit of a 'retro' corner with their sound and image and I can see them running into a (rather low) glass ceiling regardless of how good a band they might be. It's almost like they only want to appeal to a very small spectrum of the rock crowd? It helps that they seem to be getting noticed by some 'name' musos from earlier days - Ronnie Wood has jammed with St Jude at the 100 Club (Faces classic 'I'm Losing You' is a staple in the band's set) and St Jude sound more than a little like The Faces, as well as The Stones, and more noticeably on some of the new songs The Black Crowes as well. St Jude also sound uncanilly like the current version of The Quireboys too (with Janis Joplin) - a fact that has I'm sure not gone unnoticed by guitarist Guy Griffin from the band who I notice standing near me in the crowd tonight. And of course the band are named after a Quireboys song. There is a new album from St Jude in the pipeline - which it might be a good one judging from the new material aired tonight. It will be interesting to see if the band have managed to progress much further this time next year... The band encore a little predictably but understandably with 'Soul On Fire' - probably their best song. And then I'm out the door pretty sharpish as I have a train to catch just up the road at Kings Cross. Home in no time - result!