Review: REMEMBER JONES: JONES SINGS JONES Brings Retro Back at City Winery
What did our critic think of REMEMBER JONES: JONES SINGS JONES at City Winery?
Remember Jones is funny, but he isn't a joke. There's a knowing kitsch value to the cabaret artist turned rock revue revivalist's stage presence: he looks like Elton John, dresses like Liberace and sings like Joe Cocker, on a stage full of bandstands and matching-jacketed musicians. But this isn't a parody of a Vegas show. What Jones and company are doing is a lot more daring than parody: a genuine revival of that sort of big-band rock showmanship for the neo-soul era. And it works.
City Winery is one of those venues that can easily fly under the radar of the Pittsburgh arts scene. They're eclectic in a way that can sometimes make them hard to pin down: drag shows, podcasts, comedians, tribute bands, jazz brunches. (The last show I saw there was a reading of The Nightmare Before Christmas with a metal band doing the music.) The only common denominator to be found is masterful curation; if you see something at the winery, you know it's going to be good.
Right from the start, when the four-piece funk band and thirteen-piece horn section jump into "Sex Bomb" as an overture, the sound in the intimate Winery was immaculate. Remember Jones himself quickly joined them onstage, peppering his all-Tom Jones set with high kicks, banter and self-deprecating humor. Despite his stage name and the Tom Jones tribute set, this isn't actually a Tom Jones tribute act, nor is he an impersonator: doing the "Live in Vegas" album in its entirety was a "high-dea" Jones had and decided to run with. (He typically performs a similar show of all Queen music or even all Amy Winehouse hits.) Nonetheless, Tom Jones music suits his bluesy, theatrical tone, and he runs through the set of rockers, country ballads, show tunes and soul standards with aplomb.
A cabaret artist thrives on their ability to blend audience rapport with an emotional throughline; there's no narrative to a recreated Tom Jones set, but Jones ties it all together with a series of vignettes about his youth listening to Vegas crooners at his grandmother's house. This sincerity is balanced with a great sense of humor; "What's New, Pussycat" is punctuated between verses by Jones bantering with the audience about dog people versus cat people, and his own experiences with both pets. Then, just when you're comfortable, a song like "I Who Have Nothing" or "Thunderball" amps the drama way up. Somewhere in between sits the only moment of genuine, knowing camp in the show, "Delilah." Jones's voice never ones falters or winks, even as he encourages the audience to sing the chorus, jokes about how absurdly dark the lyrics are, and even mimes the murder-suicide at the song's heart.
If the concert banter is to be believed, Remember Jones is becoming a City Winery stalwart, with three shows in two years. The strength of the Tom Jones set was enough to make me seek out clips of his Queen and Amy Winehouse shows, and with a little luck, those will be playing here soon. City Winery is easily one of the hippest venues in town, and here's to another year of eclectic shows like this keeping it so.
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