Live Review: Jazzanova@Metro 1/13/06

I was really looking forward to checking out Jazzanova last Friday. Their new remixes collection (the unimaginately titled The Remixes 2002-2005) is great and I was curious as to what their live show would be like. A collective of 6 DJs and producers, Jazzanova are probably best known for their remix work, though they did release an album of original material in 2002. In support of their new remix album, I figured this Metro gig would probably just be a night of DJ sets as opposed to any sort of live performance, but would there actually be all 6 members of Jazzanova in attendance? Is so, would they spin individually, or would they team up on the mix? Turns out it was just one guy spinning the whole time, Alexander Barck...at least while I was there. Barck's set was great, but I only stuck around for about an hour because I experienced yet another "curse of the opening band." The show was listed as 10pm, so as the headliners, I figured that Jazzanova wouldn’t be going on stage until after midnight. However, I was still a little shocked when I arrived and saw the set list on the door that said they’d be starting at 1:30a. It wasn’t even midnight at this point and I had absolutely no desire to see the opening band, Tortured Soul, so we headed next door to the Ginger Man tavern to kill some time. I walked back over to Metro about 1, but the damn opener was still playing. A trio that “plays live soulful house,” the gimmick of Tortured Soul is that they play dance music with live instruments (drums, bass, keyboards) instead with computers, drum machines and turntables. Practically from their name alone, I knew I was going to hate their sound, and sure enough, they were even worse than I imagined. Two kinds of music that I can’t stand are jam bands and mainstream dance, and Tortured Soul were a torturous combination of both. I almost completely bailed, but opted to loiter in the lobby until it was time for Jazzanova to come on. Like I said, Barck's set was good, but the long wait and having to endure a bad opener sucked out all my energy so I didn't have nearly as good of a time as I thought I would. The crowd was also oddly thin for a major Metro headliner, as everybody left after Tortured Soul. For the most part, this was a good thing as the Tortured Soul fans were even more annoying than the band was. However, it was kind of weird to see the floor so empty on a Friday night and it dampened the energy of the show quite of bit. Technorati: Jazzanova