Jason Webley at the A Club on Saturday, September 11th
Jason Webley is quite the live artist, one of those artists I will never forget because of his live show. I didn’t know much about Jason prior to the show but once I arrived and he was splitting up the room conducting the audience to use their vocals as instruments I knew it was going to be something wonderful.
Jason Webley has his acoustic guitar for some songs, his accordion for others reminding me of a Bavarian Folk artist. He and the audience use their feet to stomp along to the beat and their hands to clap along too. He is bursting with energy and personality and even a little sass. When you get a chance to see him live; do not talk during his songs, he will make sure to make a point of your rudeness in a humorous way. It’s hard to find an artist that has both the musical talent to make your jaw drop but yet the fun aspect and crowd interaction where you break out of your shell and unfold those arms.
Jason is from Seattle, and tonight was the first time his nephew had seen him live. He dedicated “Elephant, Elephant” to him and we all got to shout back all the words to him that rhymed with Elephant including Elephant. Jason Webley also played for us a song by his favorite living writer Leonard Cohen, he played “The Stranger Song,” which is off Cohen’s first album. He also decided to do a little 80’s tunes and played “Billie Jean” on the accordion which then lead to a look at the lyrics in the song and how it’s very confusing, kind of a lie. Listen to the second bridge closely and you’ll get it. He also did the intro on his accordion to “Just Like Heaven” by the Cure; totally one of my jams! It was kind of funny when he asked for 80’s requests he got a lot of songs not in the 80’s but 90’s. He also played a bit of “I’m On Fire,” by Bruce Springsteen.
Like I mentioned before Jason Webley had us doing something for almost every song. If we weren’t singing loud enough he told us, if we weren’t clapping enough he told us. It was really a blast. He writes such catchy songs too, very talented writer. Plus he is good at keeping his hat on his head during his set, a few times he balanced and shook it back up on top of his head when it fell on his face. I think “DanceWhileTheSkyCrashes,” may be one of my new jams, I love it!
For his last song, before his applause and chant for an encore we wiggled our fingers in the air and into our neighbor’s armpits and danced to the music that tears up a part. He even used Dustin Carroll’s head to play his accordion. It was quite the bang for the last song and made us want to see Jason Webley again and again. His set was wonderfully creative and memorable an artist you need to add to your “see live list.”
Photos courtesy of Matt Auclair.
