The Eleventh Hour gets Silenced at TenMay 24 '02 (Updated Jul 08 '04) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Jars: Great set as always, but cut a little short this time. Jen: Decent set; drowned out a little by her band. Shaun: Witty and surprisingly entertaining for a newcomer. Date: Saturday, May 11, 2002 Artist: Jars of Clay with Jennifer Knapp and Shaun Groves Venue Greek Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA Ticket Price: $35 (mid-range seats) Does divad23 ever stop gushing about Jars of Clay? Nope, not really. But thanks for asking. I’ll spare you the lengthy intro. I’m sure most of you know by now that Jars of Clay is my favorite band. They’ve consistently proven themselves to be an innovative force in the landscape of spiritually charged modern rock, and despite the fact that I’d seen them perform live six times, I was raring to go for a seventh when they announced the tour dates for their latest album, The Eleventh Hour. The fact that they were touring once again with Christian music’s premiere rock chick, Jennifer Knapp, and acclaimed singer/songwriter Shaun Groves was merely the icing on the cake. The Eleventh Hour Nearly Passed Me By My latest Jars experience almost didn’t happen, though, thanks to a last minute change of venue. The oh-so-finicky folks over at Universal Amphitheater had Jars scheduled for May 11th back when they first announced there tour dates, and then suddenly the date disappeared from any calendar I could get my hands on. Before I knew it, Universal had scheduled Diana Krall (who seems to be haunting me, but that’s another story), and my hopes were temporarily dashed. But thankfully, the Jar-boys managed to score another venue - and a nicer one at that, albeit a bit smaller. And there was much rejoicing. I Wanna See from Your Side of the Sky Nestled in the hills near Griffith Park in northern Los Angeles, the Greek Amphitheatre is a pretty decent place for a rock concert. It’s outdoors and surrounded by trees and generally greener scenery that you’d normally see in L.A. It’s generally an easy place to get in and out of, even with a large crowd, and you’ll have better luck catching an artist for an autograph afterwards if they choose to mingle with the little people after the show. I had seen Delirious? there a few years back, and the only serious drawback I could remember was that the nearby residential neighborhood forced a noise curfew on the venue, which cut the band’s set short a little bit. But I figured that wouldn’t be so bad this time around, since Jars only had two opening acts instead of three. I was mostly right. Newcomer Shaun Groves was just getting his set underway as my two friends and I made our way to our seats (there was supposed to be a third friend, but his ride couldn’t find him and now I’m down $35 - but I’d have gladly paid $70 for this show anyway), and though his set was short, he managed to win the crowd over with little more than an acoustic guitar, a keyboard, and a truckload of smart remarks. He started off with the rocking “Satellite”, a less lyrically developed but still notable tune from his debut album, Invitation to Eavesdrop, and despite the sparse musical backdrop, the song translated well to a live setting. I noticed that the spiky-haired Texan man with the chunky voice did a good job of encouraging the crowd to participate without annoying them. He mostly used humor to pull this off, telling people to clap their hands and act like they knew who he was, move their mouths and pretend to know the songs, etc. Shaun managed a seamless transition from “Satellite” into “After the Music Fades”, which is his current radio single and one of my personal favorites from his album. It was difficult to recognize, and though he invited the crowd to worship with him on this song, they didn’t really know most of the words, and they mostly just watched politely. He tried to get the men and women to fill in various vocal parts at the end, but that didn’t really work either. Such tactics are probably best saved for better known songs, but you can’t blame a newcomer for trying. Invitation to Name-drop I think Shaun really endeared himself to the crowd when he talked in between songs. His remarks generally revolved around being a young, starving artist who nobody knew, though at one point he turned the joke around and advised the audience to be friendly to Jars of Clay, who had been so gracious to close for him on this tour, and were a fledgling band with some water song that all the kids liked or something like that. He also got a few jokes in about his family life before introducing his next song, “Without You”, which was a new song - he said record labels don’t like it when you do that. Thankfully, he warned the audience that this was going to be a cheesy love song to his wife (she had flown out to spend the weekend with him in L.A. since he missed her while away on tour) - the lyrics were certainly nothing new, but they were effective enough to get the point across, and Shaun interjected comments every now and then such as “Hold on, it gets worse!” as if to let us know he didn’t expect us to take him too seriously. He assured us he didn’t mind even if we thought it was cheesy, because he had a hot wife and he was getting some lovin’ tonight! Shaun closed his set with his “big” single, “Welcome Home”. For a song that earned him a New Artist of the Year nomination and a slot on WoW 2002, I’m surprised it didn’t get a bigger response. But he proved himself to be effective on the piano during this last song, and his lyrics came across a little clearer this time as well. Even though he didn’t blow me away with a full live band like I expected he might (and he didn‘t get time to do my favorite song of his, “Should I Tell Them“), his wit made me like him enough to persuade me to put his album on my “to buy” list (I would have bought it that night, but they were charging $20 for CD’s - as if!) A Little More Jennifer Knapp and band came out on stage after a brief intermission, showcasing a thicker sound than in past concerts. I don’t quite know how to describe the difference - maybe it was just the venue, but I didn’t feel like I could make out as many elements in the music as the last few times I’d seen Jen live. However, her players were definitely talented, and this time around she had a few background singers and a violin player, likely to augment her newer songs, which took of most of her set, and tend to lean in a more “pop” direction. The new songs sounded pretty good live. She opened rather predictably with “By and By”, followed by “Come to Me” and “Into You”, all of which were pounded out admirably by the band, but they’re all kind of mid-tempo, which really dragged down the energy of Jennifer’s set a bit. It was actually rather disappointing to note that on many of the more feisty numbers, it was someone else and not Jennifer playing the electric guitar. I guess this new lineup fit in well with my only real complaint about Jennifer’s latest album, The Way I Am - too much of other people’s talent, and not enough of the talent we all know Jennifer has. Unplug Me I was pleased to see the title track from Lay It Down make Jen’s set list, but given that a good half of her set was new material, that meant that a few old classics got axed, most notably “Romans”, which has traditionally been Jen’s closing number, and would have been awesome with a violin present. However, I’ve heard most of Kansas and the underrated Lay It Down live before, so it was a thrill to hear more new songs than I expected. Audience favorites “Breathe on Me” and “Fall Down” (the latter of which Jen’s been performing live since way before she recorded it) sounded similar to the album versions, but thankfully, “Say Won’t You Say” and “Light of the World” were presented in a more raw, acoustic form, rather than the heavily programmed style in which they appear on the CD. It was especially nice to see “Light of the World” show up in Jen’s set - I honestly hadn’t been expecting it. Unfortunately, it showed up rather awkwardly after an experimentally slow reading of “Undo Me”, which was her first big hit - it was a crying shame that she pulled the plug on the energy of the album version in favor of this mellower, bluesier take. Diamond in the Rough A newer classic, “A Little More”, followed next - also pretty true to the album version, and then Jen hit us with her tried and true live version of “Trinity”. Just like last time she opened for Jars, “Trinity” was presented with pounding drums and searing electric guitars in all the right places, improving upon an already solid album version. (I still can’t shake the similarities between that song and U2’s “All I Want Is You”.) She closed out her set with another new favorite, the title track from The Way I Am. I noticed that Jen didn’t talk much during her set, except at one point to offer a brief monologue on her style of songwriting, which she described as simply her attempt to paint a rough picture of what faith means to her instead of trying to neatly sum up the Gospel all in one song. I don’t know if everyone could relate to what she was saying, but I appreciated it. Overall, it was a good showing for Jen and her band, but probably not the strongest of the five live sets I’ve seen her do so far. Here Comes the Silence I had boasted to my friends several times before the concert that I was going to call Jars’ opening song. I was so darn sure that they would start off the show with the rocking “Revolution”, my favorite track from The Eleventh Hour. I’m sure a lot of fans were expecting some upbeat, rocking song like “Liquid” or “Crazy Times” to start off the set, but in any case, we were all a bit stunned to notice guitarist Steve Mason sitting in front of a set of turntables as the rest of the band took the stage, carefully spinning and scratching to replicate the static-drenched beat of the new ballad “Silence”. I knew the band was partial to this song and had considered starting the album, but it sure made for an odd start. Actually, lead singer Dan Haseltine only did the chorus a few times (“I got a question, where are you?”), before the band morphed the song into a brief cover of The Beatles’ classic “Here Comes the Sun”, as the lights brightened on stage and a sketch of the sun was displayed on the backdrop behind the boys. Since I’m not all that familiar with the original, I had to take it on faith that the two songs were somehow relevant to each other. I have to give the band credit for being unpredictable, that’s for sure. Unforgetful Them The band soon got the urge to rock out of its system, starting with the upbeat new song “Disappear” and assuring fans that they still remembered the old days by working their way back one album at a time with “Unforgetful You”, “Crazy Times”, and “Like a Child”. These were all more or less faithful to the album versions, but that was fine with me. I noticed that Dan pulled out the accordion for “Unforgetful You”, as he had done on the tours for If I Left the Zoo, and he got in some more time in on the drum kit, hammering out the beat alongside the band’s faithful tour drummer Joe Porter. “Crazy Times”, while it’s never been one of my favorites, is always a concert highlight due to Steve Mason’s searing guitar solo. I expected that it was the only track I’d hear from Much Afraid that night, and I was right. I’ve long since let go of my grievance about how under appreciated most of that album is - we’ll just say I’m glad I caught those songs live while I still could. To hear “Like a Child” restored to its original tune was pure bliss. I didn’t much care for the funked-out keyboard treatment that the band gave the song during the Zoo era, but then, it’s my favorite song in the whole world, so I’m a little touchy when it gets messed with. Of course, even Jars themselves can’t completely do it justice without the fiddles and whistles and everything else that makes the album version so jubilant. But it’s always a treat to hear Steve Mason and Matt Odmark fill in the blanks with some lively acoustic soloing. Something Beautiful The boys returned to their new album next, inviting the crowd to sing along on The Eleventh Hour‘s first radio hit, “I Need You”. The song, which is rather poppy and pedestrian on the album, had considerably more kick in a live setting with the guitars turned up, and here once again the band juxtaposed their own song with a cover song that happened to fit with the chord structure. The recognizable major-to-major-seventh riff carried nicely into The Dream Academy’s “Life in a Northern Town”, though I couldn’t imagine how on Earth the two songs were related. In any case, the cover brought some familiar cheers of recognition from the crowd (it was well executed), and of course the band took full advantage of that by slipping in ad libs about California. The band slowed things down next to highlight a song they’d written for the soundtrack to the movie We Were Soldiers. I haven’t seen the movie (I can’t handle most war movies), but I’m always grateful when the band gets some exposure, and they’ve had good luck with movie soundtracks even if the radio has been rather finicky with the band. “The Widowing Field” is an interesting entry in the Jars catalogue - they’ve done some country and folk-influenced stuff in the past such as “Much Afraid” or “Fly Farther”, but this one’s definitely twangier than what I’m used to from them. It was a treat to watch Steve Mason bending and twisting his strings to get just them so sing just right as powerful (but tastefully edited) images from the movie played in the background. I think the song itself could use a little work - I’ve listened to it a few times, and nothing’s jumped out at more other than the chorus (“Have mercy on my soul, if I am not the last to go.”) The band rounded out the slower part of their set with another new song, “Something Beautiful”, which started off with a nice swirling guitar intro, but overall didn’t quite carry the instrumental power that it does on the album. Steve’s electric guitar solo in particular just didn’t come across as strong. If “Fly” Can Spin on Top 40 Waves… The boys paused at this point to tell the sad story that inspired their current radio single, “Fly”. I think I appreciate the song more now that I know who it was written for. Apparently the band knew a couple who got married despite the bride being diagnosed with terminal cancer - they spent all nine months of their marriage in a hospital room before she finally passed on, and the band was inspired by her courage and his determination to stick by her and comfort her in her final days despite the disappointment over the whole tragedy. I think it was clever of the band to make the song so upbeat and hopeful instead of going for a cheap tear-jerker - even though “Fly” seems a little too typical pop/rock compared to what I know the band’s capable of, it’s an enjoyable song with a solid, confident chorus, and I’m glad it’s getting some mainstream airplay. If things go right for the band, it could be their next “Flood”. Speaking of “Flood”, the boys surprised us with their biggest hit thus far at an earlier point in the set than anyone expected it. It’s typically shown up during the encore or as the last song before the encore in past concerts, but not this time. The mostly serious mood of the concert took a definite fun turn after “Fly”, when Charlie Lowell’s quirky piano intro led into the hard-rocking “Collide”, which was followed immediately by “Flood”. I honestly think I enjoyed “Flood” more due to the fact that it wasn’t at the end, even though it was pretty much the same live version they’ve been doing ever since the Much Afraid years (thankfully, minus the annoying pause between the bridge and final chorus). “Collide” was definitely a nice surprise, since I’m expecting most of If I Left the Zoo to go the way of the dodo now that critics are haling the new album as a return to form for the band. Love Song for Old Time’s Sake Despite my qualms over many of the band’s more interesting songs being lost in the shuffle, I have to say, they know how to string songs together to keep the crowd excited. The classic “Love Song for a Savior” fit perfectly after “Flood”, allowing for another audience sing-along. The band also has a tendency to make this one a little more electric in concert, but they keep a good balance and a definite focus toward worship on this one, and all the guys (as well as the audience) did a great job of filling in the backup harmonies. With that classic out of the way, the concert once again took a turn towards the fun and wacky, as a familiar keyboard intro from Charlie led into the ironically titled “I’m Alright”. Dan took the opportunity to introduce the band before getting into the song, but thankfully the guys didn’t take as long to get through the intros as they have in the past. They were more faithful to the album version this time out, and once again they took full advantage of the audience to fill in the soulful vocal parts from the album and to whistle along with the acoustic guitar solo in the middle of the song. Dan purposefully dragged out the ending of the song, having fun with the call and response “Yeah, yeah”s, before softly slipping in the word “Revolution”… Aww yeah! Do You Want a Revolution? What I expected to be the opening song worked even better to close out the band’s set. Though the overall sound was a bit muddy (it’s meant to sound like more of a garage-rock song even on the album), it was still the stand-out, rock-out and sing at the top of your lungs moment of the evening. By this point, I was losing my voice, and one of my friends was being noisier than I had veer heard her before - the audience as a whole was definitely into it. The band pulled out all of the stops and just had fun with this one - Dan fooled around on the drums some more, and during the second verse a few random stage hands came out of nowhere to stand around Steve Mason and clap loudly, giving the song a bit of a Barenaked Ladies feel. It was all over too soon, with the band falling apart as the ending of this song is wont to do, and Steve attempting a dive off of the drum riser that ended up looking rather silly. Oh, well. We were all having fun; that’s what counts. The Tenth Hour As I suspected, Jars of Clay got bit by the early noise curfew imposed by the venue. It was getting close to 10:00, and when the band came back out for their encore, it was disappointing to hear Dan ask the crowd if we had time for one more song. Nonetheless, “Worlds Apart” is a choice song to close with - I do have to agree that it still stands out as one of the deepest, most soul-searching songs any Christian band has ever written. At this point, it was just Dan and Steve on stage, and they performed most of the song acoustically, allowing the quiet, meditative mature of the song to draw the audience once again into a worshipful mood. The sound built up bit by bit later as the rest of the band came out on stage to bring it to a lovely climax, taking the lovely “Hallelujah” coda that most fans remember from past concerts or the Stringtown CD, and changing the tune around a bit while keeping the chord structure the same. I hardly had the voice to be singing much at that point, but there I was, losing myself in the flow of it and not paying attention to how cracked my voice must have sounded at that point. The song probably went on for ten minutes, but it was all over a bit too soon. Surprisingly, the band never got to the title track from The Eleventh Hour, despite naming the tour after it, or anything from the back half of that album. I later read that they had played “The Edge of Water” as part of the encore in some other cities - that would have been awesome. I’m sure some fans were surprised at the exclusion of “Liquid” - I personally didn’t care because I have yet to hear a decent live version of that song. “Fade to Grey” or something else from Much Afraid would have been nice, as would “Scarlet” or “Whatever She Wants” from the new album, but then, I tend to latch onto a lot of the band’s less popular songs. I’m over it. Sacrificial Love When you’ve seen a band live more than three or four times, and the results are always high quality, you can’t really go see them again expecting them to blow away what they’ve done in the past. So I wouldn’t say that Jars of Clay’s current tour is their best yet. But they certainly have grown and learned a lot of new things since their early days (one of them being what artists to tour with), and it’s readily apparent that they work hard and love what they do. It may not always be obvious, but they’re innovators, tinkering with everything until it’s just right instead of settling for sloppy arrangements or catering to record company pressures (if Essential had their way, this would have been a worship tour with some flavor-of-the-month new signee as the opening act). They’re worth seeing live, whatever the context, and I’m sure they’ll get another tour in before going back into the studio, so go check them out, okay? One last note: I thought it was really cool of Jars and Jennifer and Shaun to agree to do an in-store signing in nearby Glendale before the show. I always get excited when I have the chance to meet one of my favorite bands, though I always seem to have nothing to say when I’m actually staring them in the face. All six of them are good at handling crowds (though obviously Shaun and Jennifer were getting much less attention from the crowd that showed up to get stuff signed and whatnot), and I noticed the guys in Jars making a real effort to pass questions along to Jennifer and Shaun just so the audience could get to know them better as well. I did finally get up the nerve to ask what I thought was a meaningful question - I asked Jars what the song “Scarlet” was about, and Dan gave what he said was a typical artist answer: “Sacrificial love”. Oh, well. It was worth a try. Set Lists: Shaun Groves Satellite After the Music Fades Without You Welcome Home Jennifer Knapp By and By Come to Me Into You Lay It Down Breathe on Me Fall Down Undo Me Light of the World Say Won't You Say A Little More Trinity The Way I Am Jars of Clay Silence/Here Comes the Sun (Beatles Cover) Disappear Unforgetful You Crazy Times Like a Child I Need You/Life in a Northern Town (Dream Academy cover) The Widowing Field Something Beautiful Fly Collide Flood Love Song for a Savior I'm Alright Revolution Encore: Worlds Apart My Ratings: Jars of Clay: 4 stars Jennifer Knapp: 3.5 stars Shaun Groves: 4 stars Show Overall: 4 stars Band Members: Dan Haseltine: Lead vocals, drums, accordion Charlie Lowell: Piano, keyboards, backing vocals Steve Mason: Electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals Matt Odmark: Acoustic and electric guitars, backing vocals Joe Porter: Drums (tour only) Aaron Sands: Bass (tour only) Websites: http://www.jarsofclay.com http://www.jenniferknapp.com http://www.shaungroves.com  |
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