During my year out I'd got into lots of different types of music. As my friends weren't super into music, and as I didn't have any older brothers or sisters, I mostly found bands by listening to the radio or reading the music weeklies. In the late '90s, the NME had a section called 'On' which, among other things, contained write-ups about a handful of new bands. One particular week I was reading 'On' when I came across an article about an American singer-songwriter called Jewel Kilcher. Apparently she was a great lyricist and had worked with Neil Young's former backing band, The Stray Gators, on her forthcoming album. She was also SMOKIN'. Ahem. I didn't really know anything about Neil Young at the time, other than that he was meant to be cool, but the reference alone made me want to investigate. Probably because I wanted to prove to myself that I was cool by association. By association.
I bought "You Were Meant For Me" on CD single and thought it was ALL THAT. The b-sides, "Cold Song" and "Rocker Girl", were ace too, in an unbelievably twee/goofy way. I had recently had my teenage heart broken (i.e. I was tiny bit upset), and Jewel, OMG, understood me. Facepalm. Anyways... she sounded nothing like Neil Young, and nothing like edgy, but she also sounded nothing like her future self, where Garth Brooks production values, corny poetry and botox are the order o' the day, that is to say -> she was pretty decent. I still think her first album, 'Pieces Of You', is wicked, despite a few tracks that fall the wrong side of naff.
And 'Pieces Of You' accompanied me to James Baillie flats when I moved to Leeds in September 1998 for universityness. A couple of hours after moving in, I heard the sultry sounds of Jewel coming from the room next door. I plucked up some courage and went and knocked. "Er, is that 'Pieces Of You'?" I creaked. My flatmate Chris replied IN THE POSITIVE, and we quickly became mates. He later picked me up a copy of Jewel's second album when he went into town to get one for himself. We then spent many weeks vainly trying to convince ourselves that it wasn't an anodyne load of old tosh.
I'm guessing that I suggested that we go see Jewel in Manchester, having seen an advert for the tour in the NME. But that is PURE SPECULATION dear reader. Most of my friends were not interested in seeing the "screechy mare", but Chris and his girlfriend Anna wanted to go, as did our flatmate Alex. I've no idea how we got to Manchester, or how we got home, although I think Anna probably drove. I'm pretty sure, how-bleedin-ever, that it was the first time I'd been to Manchester. Which is astonishing given that it's only an hour away from Leeds. Comically, I remember thinking I was an expert on The Roads And Layout Of The City Of Manchester after going back the following week to see Ben Folds Five at the Union. What a pillock.
The gig was in the Academy 1 which felt positively CAVERNOUS, even though it was an all-seated show, so it was nowhere near max capacity. I wasted several pounds buying a programme, then we squeezed our way to our chairs.
The support act was a guy called Steve Poltz, who'd co-wrote "You Were Meant For Me" with Jewel. He seemed a nice enough chap, but his own songs were a bit dull and cheesetastic. Allege, his album 'Answering Machine' is one of Neil Young's favourite LPs. I've never been able to find a copy but the concept sounds pretty cool - 56 songs, no more than 45 seconds in length, recorded onto his... answering machine funnily enough.
And then it was time for The Main Event. Beautiful Lady Jewel. Sigh. Although she'd crossed over to the darkside with 'Spirit', she still wheeled out enough tracks from the first album to keep me happy. Just. Her band, featuring The Poltzanator, bordered on 'slick', ("Who Will Save Your Soul" was particularly bad), but the few songs she played in a more stripped back style were ace. (Bizarrely) she chose to wear leather pants rather than the kooky summer dress of my dreams and my infatuation parped its last; disappearing into the Manchester skies, like a punctured balloon. I still bought the simply horrendous third album 'This Way' though. And listened to the follow-up, '0304', which is one of the worst things ever recorded by anyone, ever. But I'm over her now. Defs. Have I mentioned how good "Morning Song" and "Sometimes It Be That Way" are?
Set list (Jewel)
Courtesy of www.jewelwiki.com
- Near You Always
- Deep Water
- What's Simple Is True
- Hands
- Jupiter
- You Were Meant For Me
- Kiss The Flame
- Innocence Maintained
- Weeping Tree
- Enter From The East
- Morning Song
- Barcelona
- Life Uncommon
- Foolish Games
- Down So Long
- Do You Want To Play
- Down
- Love Me Just Leave Me Alone
- Who Will Save Your Soul Encore
- Absence Of Fear
- Angel Standing By
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