To say I was excited about seeing the first show in 10 years by the reunited The Jesus & Mary Chain is an understatement. They are one of my all-time favorite bands (yes even the albums beyond "Psychocandy" and "Darklands") and I never had the chance to see the play live.

The main reason I decided to go to the Coachella Festival this year was to see the reunited Reid brothers and when I got tix to the limited access, "secret" show being held the night before the fest in Pomona, CA I just about died from glee overload.

The full JAMC career-spanning experience in two nights. A set in a small 600 capacity club followed by a mammoth 50 thousand person outdoor performance. What could possibly beat that? I mean I've gone to a lot of cool-ass concerts in my time (TG, Morricone, T&G25, Woodstock 94, Field Day, etc.) but I have to say I don't know if I've ever been more excited than on the ride from Palm Springs up to Pomona.

JAMC are one of my "personal" bands. One of my "fuck you leave me alone" bands. One of my "locked in the bedroom thinking about serious shit" bands. In otherwords I hold them in very high regard and have a lot of experiences and emotion wrapped up in their music.

Pomona is kind of a sleepy little town and the venue, The Glasshouse, is a medium-sized shit-hole in the middle of a trendy artist neighborhood. I was expecting a 930 Club type space for the "secret gig" and instead got the Black Cat. Which I have to admit made the whole 'secret' thing that much cooler. There really were only about 600 people (tops) there to witness the JAMC return to live music.

And quite a return it was! Equal parts humble and grumpy Jim Reid led the band through a set of classics from the "21 Singles" collection. Hitting a lot of the highlights from the band's long career. The club sound system wasn't the best which added a nice level of fuzz to everything which made William Ried's guitar playing all the more awesome. I was really impressed with the range of sound he wrenched from his guitars without ever being showy in his playing. Like his vocalist brother, William played with a seriousness about him.

Being a warm-up set for the next night's massive festival debut, the band worked out a few kinks. Restarting at least one-song after a mssed que. Which gave the whole performance an insider's feel. Going into the night I thought I'd miss the drum machine on JAMC's earlier tracks, but actually the live drumming was incredible and added a kick-ass-ed-ness to all the tracks played.

I have always felt that "21 Singles" is an excellent compilation summing up the JAMC output and seeing almost the entire album played live reinforces that. For all the varied sounds put out over their many albums, the JAMC are ultimately a loud, dark, fuzzy guitar, rock band that never really strayed from that spirit even with their later singles. Every track they played at the Glasshouse wrapped the crowd in guitar squeals and pedal fuzz and hammered us into the ground. By the end of the night everyone present (including the band) was shell-shocked and smiling.

It was fantastic.