"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the puppet show is over, we got another song for you!" Jon Spencer knows he's cooler than you, especially if you're a couple of drunks prancing in the window behind the Gorilla stage. Towards the end of the song Jon Spencer was eyeballin' 'em, back to the crowd. When it climaxed he uttered his hilarious putdown and it was on with the real rock'n'roll show. Two guitars and a stripped down drum kit was all the Blues Explosion really needed to rock the Gorilla, but they'd also lugged a great big blue glowing theremin all over the world just to make a wiggly noise occasionally, as Jon Spencer waved his hand like a conjuror of blues-noise magic. His leather trousers with kneepads must've given extra protection for his aging knees when he fell to the floor to testify that the Blues are number one. Even pensioners with dementia would have no trouble recalling where they were at, as he name-checked the Blues Explosion over and over. When Russell Simmins bludgeoned the drum kit to death and needed roadie repairs, Jon was at pains to explain that the wait would be worth it as they always wanted to give the best possible performance. "He hits those drums so hard, just for you!"
There wasn't much waiting though, as the Blues Explosion collided one mutated hand waving romp into another bellbottomed classic, '78 style. The sound was so loud I could've sworn they played "Soul Typecast" three times and when they took requests Jon Spencer complained that all of them were for songs they'd already played. Some guy kept shouting for "Brenda" but she wasn't in the house, although it was rotting with "Black Mold." Jon Spencer had the people clapping and singing along and super-cool guitar slinger Judah Bauer gave the fret-finger to the man as they worked up the sweat of the Blues Explosion. As he left the stage, Judah high fived everyone at the front, having given more inspiration to the rest of us to carry on our war against the spoilers of fun.
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