Jukebox The Ghost @ Great Scott 9.15.10

Once you’ve seen a band live a few times, you start to become accustomed to the nature of their performances: how they set up on stage, their go to songs, where the audience chimes in.  However, every time I have gone to see Jukebox The Ghost, they’ve done something new, which is pretty impressive considering they only released their second album, Everything Under The Sun, on September 7^th and I’ve seen them five times.

So the big event this time around was that this was their first tour since releasing the new album and I was excited to see what they did with it.  The rest of the audience was pretty excited too; a few of them even had glow sticks.  You can’t ever beat glow sticks.

Jukebox came out after opening acts from Via Audio and Drink Up Buttercup and got the energy up quickly.  Whenever people ask me about Jukebox The Ghost, the one thing I always tell them is that they are my favorite band to see live; they always come out overjoyed to be up there and just look like they’re having the most fun.  Tonight was no different.

Jukebox sang a good amount of songs from the new album, which all sounded great live.  They also stuck to the classics like ‘€œGood Day,’€ ‘€œHold It In,’€ and ‘€œVictoria.’€  Ben, their piano player and vocalist, got slipped up a few times when a heckler/friend yelled out ‘€œI just farted’€ a few times during the set.  All in good fun of course, but the farts smelled bad.

One aspect of JTG’s shows that I always enjoy is their covers.  They add great twists on old songs which in the past have included ‘€œTemptation’€ by New Order and ‘€œIt’s a Beautiful Life’€ by Ace of Bass.  This night was no different.  The first cover they played was ‘€œClose To Me’€ by The Cure.  They were accompanied with about 5 members from both Via Audio and Drink Up Buttercup playing percussion for them, and the song was pretty awesome.

The real highlight though, was their final song.  They had come back for the encore and played ‘€œSummer Sun,’€ a song the audience was begging them to play.  The last song though, was a cover of the 90s hit sensation ‘€œI Love You Always Forever’€ by Donna Lewis, and boy, it was spectacular.  It had 90s nostalgia, humor, and good music all rolled into one.  The perfect way to end a concert.