The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Spin Magazine Rooftop Show, New York City, NY, US on 16 August 2012.
““I’ve been living in New York City a loooong time, motherfucker. I’m old.” That was Jon Spencer between songs last night, atop SPIN HQ’s roof in Manhattan for a Jack Threads-sponsored party (with beverages by Red Diamond Wine, Heineken, and Sailor Jerry) featuring his recently revived Blues Explosion outfit. In fact, it was recent shows like yesterday’s that allegedly prompted the New York trio to head back into the studio to record their forthcoming Meat and Bone LP, due September 18 on Boombox/Mom + Pop, their first since 2004 (2010 saw a slew of well-received, much-needed reissues of their seminal ’90s output). The new album’s songs felt as natural a fit next to older material as Spencer still does in leather.
The threesome tore through exactly that, an hour-long set that included a double-fisted coda of “Greyhound” and “Bellbottoms,” bookends to 1994’s Orange that “groove-a-thons” — to borrow a word from a JSBX in SPIN’s December issue of that year — whose rumble, if all went according to plan, could be heard in Philly, Boston and Chicago after that.” – David Bevan
