Mayer Hawthorne / The Heavy / DJ Jazzy Jeff Live @ Paradise, Boston 10/19/10

This will be a show, not a concert

And it was, and it was phenomenal.

We can’t front. We are serious fans of Mayer Hawthorne. And we’re also pretty into The Heavy. And DJ Jazzy Jeff is a legend. So you can imagine the pitch of our anticipation for this show. We. were. psyched.

The Heavy mean business. That much was clear throughout the band’s 45 minute or so set. Galvanized by a 3-piece horn section, The Dirty Three (and, man, did they sound it) and buoyed by frontman Kelvin Swaby’s crazy good vocals and stage presence/persona the band growled, rumbled, shaked, thumped and roared through a sweaty selection of tunes from their first two (highly recommended) LPs. “Owwwwwwwwwwwooooooohhhhh”, Swaby, in one of many cool exchanges with the crowd, called out for all the wolves in the audience. “We play music by the devil.”, alluding to the band’s unhallowed co-contributor. “You guys are live, more live than New York last night.” “Fuck New York.”, called back an adjacent show-goer. Swaby was over. He had the crowd. The Heavy were killing it. Sixteen pounded, How You Like Me Now boomed, What You Want Me to Do thundered. The Heavy were HEAVY, the best mix of loud guitar, soulful rhythm, and raw brass. Music by the devil.

Mayer Hawthorne is a terrific performer. Mayer and his four-piece band The County sounded great. Mayer sporting a fly three piece suit with red tie, The County fitted in matching red cardigans opened the set with A Strange Arrangement standout Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’ and it was on. Hawthorne and co. smoothed out to a set of approximately 12 songs, a survey of urban music influence spanning the last 50 years, The Temptations-y (and according to Mayer, first song he ever wrote) Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out, The Stylistics-esque I Wish It Would Rain, the 80’s r&b-influenced No Strings, and two Snoop jams The Neptunes classic Beautiful and Hawthorne’s own G-Mix re-touch of Gangsta Luv. Mayer was effortless in his engagement with the crowd, his on stage interactions with his band, and his overall ability to command the show‘s dynamic. “If you ain’t dancin tonight, best file on to the back, and let someone up front that will dance.” The kids were into it, the older dudes were into it, the girls got down. People had fun at this show. It felt great.

So we got outstanding sets from The Heavy, Mayer Hawthorne, and lest we mention opener New Wave dude Gordon Voidwell; who played a cool set of Synth bangers to the Paradise filers in, no doubt gaining fans, admirers, and Gordon Voidwell true believers in his effort. Ok, could this get any better? I mean what more? What possibly could top this killer Mazda Car tour. DJ JAZZY JEFF! YES! Jeff is a legend. And the opportunity to see the Jazzy DJ get sick with the turntables in person? Oh yes. And Jeff straight up murdered it, turning in arguably the best set of the night. Dude moved effortlessly about the 1’s and 2’s mixing up classic rock with early 90’s house, and disco jams with Lloyd Banks. She’s just like you and me, but she’s homeless, she’s homeless. Gypsy Woman turned to Seven Nation Army. Seven Nation Army blended into Teach Me How to Dougie. Teach Me How to Dougie to BON JOVI. The actual tunes playing (they were all great) became irrelevant. Jeff was that locked in. We didn’t want it to end.

This was a show. This was not a concert.

Reviewed by b3