Jill Sobule and John Doe ~ 2011 March 27 ~ Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
Set List
(I'll put whose song it was in parentheses, and forgive any lapses in song titles, since I don't know John's catalog):
Losing Kind (John) - Trains (Jill) - Under the Bridge (Jill) - White Girl (John) - Good Life (Jill) - Baby Doe (Jill) - Walking Out the Door (John) - Underground With You (John) - Mexican Wrestler (Jill) - Bobbie Gentry (Jill) - Giant Step Backwards (John) - Ritalin Kid (Jill) - Never Enough (John) - Nothing to Prove (Jill) - Jetpack (Jill) - Pain (John) - Love is Never Equal (Jill) - New World (John) - When My Ship Comes In (Jill) ... encore ... 4th of July (John) - Resistance Song (Jill) - Bitter/I Kissed a Girl medley (Jill) - Wrecking Ball (John)
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"When My Ship Comes In"
"A Good Life"
I also took videos of two of John's songs, "The Golden State" and "Giant Step Backwards," but they can't be viewed. This is how Youtube phrases it: This video contains content from [Merlin] Redeye Distribution, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds. Oh, well, I tried.
Review
Jill Sobule and John Doe played a duo show at Cambridge's venerable folk club and delicious vegetarian eatery.
I've been a fan of Jill Sobule for quite a few years, since I saw her open for Warren Zevon around the end of the last century. I even got to introduce her once. She was playing at Pearl Street in Northampton, and came out on stage and said, "oh dear, I need to be introduced," and she held the microphone in front of me. I said: "Northampton welcomes Jill Sobule." I thought it was actually pretty good for an ad lib. Anyhow, I digress. If you don't know Jill's music, she's famous for having an MTV video of her mischievous song about a same-sex encounter, "I Kissed a Girl," but there's a lot more to her than that. Her songs are funny, or sad, or meaningful, but always literate, and she's a fabulous singer and a really hot guitar player.
John Doe is known for being a founding member of the '80s L.A. punk band, X, where he sang those crazy, compelling, atonal harmonies with Exene Cervenka. He's had a solo career for quite a few years with music tending more toward roots than punk.
I've seen a Jill duo show before, when she performed with Erin McKeown last year also at Passim's, but this was different. When Jill and Erin performed, they each did their own set, and only performed a handful of songs together. However, Jill and John were on stage together the whole evening, taking turns performing songs, but playing and singing backup on each other's material, and it worked really well. It was the closest I've come to seeing Jill with a band. They have also recently released a duo album. I'd like to see more collaboration from these two.
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