maandag 2 maart 2009

3 New Songs + Concert review

Here are three new songs that have been captured on video for the past couple of months during Jon's concerts. Hopefully this is a sign of a new album coming soon (perhaps at the end of this year or early next year!?)

Tentatively titled: You Belong With Me


Audio mp3:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mngjma

Eyes On You (this one was actually performed early 2008 and would have ended up on 'OK Now', unfortunately it didn't)


Audio mp3
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mhjdzm

Untitled (jokingly titled "Streets of Philadephia" at the night of the performance)


Audio mp3:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/sl6y1c

Additionally, here is a brief review from our friend Homertilicus, who attended the Jon concert at the SOMA in San Diego, CA on the 27th of February.
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The concert ended fairly early. Doors were at 7:00pm. The opening act, Blue In The Face, took the stage at like 7:30pm. Jon came out at about 8:30pm. He played until 10:25ish and the show was over.

After the opening act finished, Jon's band started setting up. The stage didn't have a curtain, so we could see all the stagehands and band members setting up their equipment. I saw Dylan and Bobby come out and test their guitars. There was a stagehand testing Jon's keyboard and mic. And I guess the sound level was waaay too low since Dylan had to recheck it and retest it a few times until we finally heard sound from it. They set up for a while, then they disappeared backstage.

With no curtain to block their entrance, the band members finally took the stage and picked up their instruments. Jon just came right out with them. He didn't make a later entrance or anything grand. He just walked out on stage with everyone in the dimly lit stage and put up his hand to greet the crowd. There was only about 100 people there, maybe less. The venue was small and it wasn't even filled. I think it's because Soma is a punk rock/hardcore venue - so no one knew Jon was playing there. There wasn't a marquee or anything outside that had Jon's name or anything.

Jon opened the show with "Always On My Mind" playing guitar and then moved into "Beating My Heart". The setlist was, and I don't remember the exact order: "Always On My Mind", "Beating My Heart", "Perfect", "You Are The One I Love", "Human", "Amelia's Missing" (with extended instrumental break, yay!) "Indiana", "Why I'm Talking to You", "Come Together" (Beatles cover), "You Can Never Go Back", "Piano Man" (Billy Joel cover), "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover), "Indiana" and "Four Years". The encore was "Mary Jane" and "Four Years". Oh and he played a new song, which he says is untitled, but it's pretty clear that it's called "You Belong With Me" since that's the main part of the chorus and keeps getting repeated. It's an uptempo piano rock song. The music is reminscent of U2's "Beautiful Day".

He said that when he's having fun on stage, he likes to sing songs that aren't his, but songs that most people will know. He said he sings enough songs that no one knows - his songs. When he sang "Mary Jane", he dedicated it to a girl in the audience who said it was her birthday and he even said happy birthday to her after the song. And he dedicated it to his former college dormmate who was in the audience but didn't raise his hand to be recognized. Jon said his roommate was always playing that song in college, so he sings it now.

After the show ended, the crowd dispersed really quickly. There were a lot of people hanging out in the lobby waiting for Jon to come out, but they quickly left after like 10 minutes. Then the security kicked everyone out, so we waited outside the front entrance. Then the security locked the front doors and told people that Jon wasn't coming out and that we should all leave. A lot of people left, but a group of girls circled around the back of the building. I followed them with my friend. We waited around by the backstage exit for Jon. And another group of girls waited by his tour bus. After waiting for a little while, I noticed that the girls by the tour bus were taking pictures. I didn't know if Jon was there cuz I couldn't see him and I thought that maybe the girls were just taking pictures by the bus. Turns out, Jon was on the bus and he came out to take pictures with everyone and sign whatever they had.

So the group I was with by the backstage exit made our way over to Jon. I got a picture with him, he signed my CDs and laughed when he saw I had his self-titled indie album. He was like, "whaaaat? I don't even own this one anymore...." and he smiled. I shook his hand this time and thanked him. Even though I've met him once before, I was still super nervous. I wanted to take a separate picture with just me and him, but there was a group of girls still waiting and Jon was cold. He was still wearing the same thin little T-shirt he had on stage and he was like, "geez, why's it so cold here tonight" when he was signing my CDs. Ironic, right? Since he just said on stage that San Diego has fantastic weather. Poor guy. It was like 50 degrees, but he was sweating on stage and I think his shirt was still a little wet so that made him colder. Still, he stayed out there and greeted everyone and signed stuff for everyone. There must have been like 20 people all together. He's a trooper and was super nice.

Jon's voice was on point at this show. He sounded absolutely fantastic on every song and never hit a bum note. I love that even with a small turnout, he still gave a passionate, energetic performance. The upside to the venue was that the sound was fantastic. When I saw him in LA at the El Rey Theatre, I stood too close to the stage and missed the "sweet spot" of the sound system. So it was hard to hear him clearly since the sound system was positioned to be best heard by the center of the room. At Soma, I was in the sweet spot and close to the stage. The bass was thumping so hard you could feel it and everything was clear. Loved it!

Here are some great pics he took at the concert:

http://i43.tinypic.com/34yyy3d.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/2zp0409.jpg

This one is epic
http://i44.tinypic.com/2ibl2tj.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/aubk40.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2a83tbt.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/29lbodw.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/29wk9d3.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/zt82v6.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/bc5l5.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/auwa3n.jpg

His signed CDs:
http://i39.tinypic.com/25fpx83.jpg


**Please do not take his pics and claim them as your own. You can ask him in the shout box if you want to post them anywhere else (if he doesn't mind).**

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Thanks for the review bud!

And enjoy everyone :o)

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