The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion show at Mercury Lounge, New York City, NY, US with The Flash Express on 14 September 2003.
This was a warm-up show for a European tour. The song Don’t Smile wasn’t released until it appeared on the game Twisted Metal in 2012 and Halftime Loser is currently unreleased.
PARTIAL SET LIST:
Hot Gossip
Mars, Arizona
Don’t Smile
You Been My Baby
Help These Blues
Grinding
Halftime Loser
Bellbottoms
Afro
“Jon Spencer Blues Explosion previewed a slew of new songs during a surprise gig last night (Sept. 14) at the Mercury Lounge in New York. Among the tracks performed were “Hot Gossip,” “Mars Arizona,” “Don’t Smile,” “Been My Baby,” “Help These Blues,” “Grindin'” and “Halftime Loser” (all are working titles). The band also played oldies such as “Bell Bottoms” and “Afro,” the latter delivered seconds after an audience member requested it.
The show was a makeshift warm-up for a five-date European tour, which begins Sept. 17 in Tilburg, Holland. The band slipped onto the bill, which featured friends in the Flash Express, after the original headliner dropped off.
The new songs constitute a fraction of the new material the band has been demoing in drummer Russell Simins’ Manhattan studio. The songs played last night “were either the oldest [or] the ones that have been the most flushed out, but there’s a bunch more material that we’re focusing on over the next several months that’s as important, if not more important to us,” he tells Billboard.com. “We just haven’t gotten around to that point yet, where we’re comfortable enough to play [them] out live yet.”” – Billboard.com
Full Article: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/69090/blues-explosion-offers-new-cuts-at-surprise-gig
