JJ72/Melaton

Melaton’s extended run as the JJ’s resident support group has given them the opportunity to hone their skills as a live act. Luke Slott and co. duly deliver an enthusiastic set that goes over very well with their hometown audience.

Slott’s ongoing quest to reclaim the mandolin from the realm of uncool continues and such is the strength of Melaton’s performance that the crowd generously overlooks the utterly incongruous – and frankly, embarrassingly half-arsed – stage-thrashing that climaxes the set.

The JJ’s stride onstage and launch headfirst into a blistering rendition of ‘City’, with Mark howling the lines “They say things will change/But nothing will change” like a man in a world of shit, as Matthew Modine had it in Full Metal Jacket. They follow it up with equally intense takes on ‘Glimmer’, as well ‘Algeria’ and ‘October Swimmer’, which – thanks to the addition of a second guitarist – are transformed into acid storms of white noise.

After such an explosive opening, the JJs have difficulty maintaining the pace, and there’s a definite mid-gig lull. At one point, Greaney takes off into an extended prog-rock rifforama that’s so self-indulgent it’s actually borderline ludicrous, but I suppose JJ72 without pomp-rock excess ain’t JJ72 at all.

No matter, the frontman get things back on track with a beautiful solo rendition of ‘Improv’ from the first album, before the closing trio of ‘Snow’, ‘Formulae’ and ‘Oxygen’ deliver the knockout punch.

Perhaps a neat way to sum up is a song – written by Talking Heads and memorably covered by the Pixies – and a phrase that could serve as an epithet for the spiritually-themed I To Sky: ‘In Heaven Everything’s Fine’.