I must begin this review by saying that I am biased, that I am a huge Carter USM fan and to my mind they can do no wrong. That is why I am worried about tonight. Jim Bob, singer from Carter, has a book about his former band out, which is very good. I am concerned that this gig will consist of bad renditions of Carter numbers, as well as the mandatory new numbers that no Carter fans really want to hear. In a nutshell will the whole thing will be a bad nostalgia trip? Coming to the gig with these preconceptions fairly well nailed to the front of my mind, the lack of Carter T-shirts on view surprises me. Don’t get me wrong they are there, just not in the numbers I expected.

I arrive in time for the first support band, art punk types Art Brut. The venue is decidedly empty, this is a shame as for a band that has only been going for just over a year they are decidedly tight and being raved about as one of the hot new things to come out of New Cross.

At least 10 people walk away from the door as I arrive and I wonder if this is due to the aforementioned Carter nostalgia and a wish not to let a support band detract from it. However by the time Chris TT plays there is a larger audience. Chris is playing the second support slot, minus his backing band. His acoustic performance is hard to pin down but is varied and he seems like someone worth looking out for in the future. The audience warm to him and he gets a long round of applause as he exits the stage.

So, on to the man himself. He arrives to a stage which has been set up with a small drinks table, a chair that has a note attached to it stating that it was stolen from Westlife (a good start but someone should really go the whole hog and steal their record deal) and two acoustic guitars. Jim Bob appears, suited and sophisticated. He plays a couple of tunes before explaining the point of the night, which is; to play Carter songs, songs from both of his post Carter projects (Jim’s Super Stereo World and Jim Bob) and to read from his new book. This is what happens for the next hour and a half. All of the songs seem fresh and the crowd know and love them all. The Carter songs seem better in their new stripped down one-man-and-his-guitar format and the post Carter output is fantastic. The readings are equally good and Jim goes off on tangents to explain more about them. There is a total interaction between him and his mostly ‘30 Something’ audience.

At one point the gig becomes a complete sing along with members of the audience reminding Jim the words to songs he has forgotten. Whilst this may sound bad it is not, as it adds to the intimacy of the gig and the enjoyment had by both performer and crowd. At the end of it all Jim played two encores, and in truth I think he could have gone on all night.

So was it nostalgic? Yeah course it was, but when a gig is this good, old songs are made to sound fresh and the new material is more than just time filler it can be the best nostalgia going.

Review by Foxy

www.jim-bob.co.uk

www.christt.com or read reviews of Chris T-T at Truck Fest and Alternative Rock Idol

More info on Art Brut can be found in Joyzine's Art Brut pages