Jon Brion at Largo: Friday Nov. 17.
Firstly, Largo has a lot of rules. In order to see Jon Brion (famed music producer of Fiona Apple, Beck, Kanye West, etc) play at his club you either have to A.) make a dinner reservation: which you can get by being music business connected or tracking the online reservation list like a desperate eBay auction or B.) wait in line to grab a seat at the bar. It's first come first serve, which the doorman enforces by handing out playing cards to the first 12 people in line. They are guaranteed bar stools and they usually start lining up at 5:30pm for the doors to open at 8:00pm. Everyone else gets standing room. Once inside it's like being on an airplane: no cell phones, no cameras, no recording, no electronic devices of any kind, and keep your arms and legs out of the aisles. Do not talk once the show begins and please abide the two drink minimum. Friday night was also $15 cash cover at the door. Exact change will get you a smile, saving spots in line will get you the hairy eyeball.
The card method is good for those of us fortunate to leave work early on a Friday night and beat traffic. Then you and your party can forgo the line outside and enjoy the local eateries on Fairfax the come back when the doors open around 8:30. That is, if you and your party can't get a dinner reservation at Largo. And beware: those parties that don't fill their dinner reservation will be forced to forfeit their table. So you will see the line of reservation people asking the standing room only line people if they would like to fill the empty seat at their table. Jon Brion usually starts the show around 10:00pm once everyone is seated. Last Friday he was unhappy with his sound check and spent a while fine tuning the drum kit. I was exhausted by the time the doors opened around 9:30 and the rules exhausted me more.
But once the show got under way and a cocktail was in front of me, the dark walls of the Largo drew me in. All that waiting and rule following led up to one amazing show: You are in Jon's world now and everything here from the pasta menu to the antiquarian upright piano is genius.
Girls with pretty haricuts and short dresses turned to their dates with I-can't-believe-it gasps on their faces every time Brion sampled once, twice, and thrice loops of drums, piano, bass lines and then played guitar along to his one man band creation in a melody too perfect for words. Brion's perfectionist attention to the meticulous musical details is what sets him apart. You can picture his years of recording experience behind a mixing console as he makes each track come alive on stage. He makes a killing here at Largo among faithful fans. You'll meet a lot of regulars at Largo and a lot of people now swearing they will soon be regulars. They love that they're invited to Brion's playground. His hits from soundtracks like "Knock Yourself Out" was barely played towards the audience. Other times he looked like Elliot Smith with a craned neck at the microphone earnestly singing every line from "That's Just What You Are". Usually his sets consist of all requests or attempts from the audience to stump him. He's more than a pop music dictionary, more like a sideshow freak who can name fifty songs for every three-chord progression. His covers are legendary here. I was giddy when he mixed "Gigantic" by the Pixies into "Jessie's Girl" and then morphed seamlessly into the Beatles "Taxman" which took the night into a Beatles medley unlike any supergroup could dream of.
Set list below courtesy of the Jon Brion Tendinitis Report (he had to stop doing shows for a while to rest an ailing wrist and even now cuts the shows back from the usual 4-5 hours to a mere 2 or 3)

Setlist for November 17, 2006

Jill Sobule, opener
--Bitter
--Bobbie Gentry*
--Now That I Don't Have You*
--Ring Them Bells*
--Victorious*

* = with Greg Leisz (slide guitar)

Jon Brion
--guitar instrumental
--pedal demo (genius!)
--Girl I Knew
--The Way It Went
--"Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind" theme
--That's Just What You Are
--Knock Yourself Out (from "I heart Huckabees")
--I'm Further On
--Strings That Tie to You (from "Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind")
--Someone to Watch Over Me (jazzy/rock cover of the Gershwin standard)

with Benmont Tench, piano and Greg Leisz
--Isn't It a Pity (George Harrison)
--It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob Dylan)
--I'll Be Back (Beatles)
--I Don't Hurt Anymore (Hank Snow)
--Day After Day (Badfinger)
--Why Do You Do This to Yourself
--Gigantic (Pixies) /Jesse's Girl (Rick Springfield)/Taxman/Within You, Without You (Beatles)
--Tomorrow Never Knows/Day Tripper/She Said, She Said/I Want You/Ob La Di, Ob La Da/Dear Prudence/Baby You're a Rich Man + hundred other Beatles riffs + She's So Heavy

Largo Supper Club
432 N. Fairfax
Reservations & Info line 323.852.1073

Jill Sobule next plays @ Largo Tuesday, Nov. 21
Jon Brion plays @ Largo Friday nights TBA

More Jon Brion info on Fairfax-avenue.com

Labels: bars, music, reviews