In a sort of post-mortem celebration of Memphis garage rocker Jay Reatard’s prolific career, two cover songs have been circulating around the blogosphere this week. The first, a morbidly appropriate take on Nirvana’s “Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle”, was released on his website after the tragedy and is possibly his last recording he ever made. The second track, a cover of Beck’s “Gamma Ray”, was done a while back but Beck reposted it on his site after hearing news about Reatard’s death.

Jay Reatard // Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (Nirvana Cover)

Jay Reatard // Gamma Ray (Beck Cover)

Goddamnit Jay.

Jay Reatard // It Ain’t Gonna Save Me

If you’ve ever been to a Jay Reatard show, you know how incredible he is live. No banter, no lulls, and certainly no bullshit, Reatard (combined with bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes) rips through shows instead of just “playing them”. Well then came the infamous tweet (posted shortly after another free Jackpot record show) when Reatard indicated, in not so eloquent terms, that the band quit.

With European shows still scheduled, organizers scrambled to find replacements. Enter Danish punk band The Cola Freaks who, although I lived in Denmark for a year, I have never heard of. From the looks of a couple of youtube videos, Anders Thode and Jacob Elving just don’t have the pizzazz as Pope and Hayes. I mean look at this guy. Is this a face that is easily replaceable?

Fortunately, Reatard hasn’t lost anything in the transition. Here is a recent video of the new arrangement performing in London:

As for the former band, well it was just reported on pitchfork that they have joined forces with Wavves to make for an awesome trio. Yeah, I think Pope and Hayes made out just fine after the split…

Opening for the night was Munich’s own Mondo Ray which, if you recall from previous shows, proved to be a nice set-up to the Wavves show a while back. Although 59:1 is small, it definitely isn’t as small as the coffee shop sized Kafe Kult where they performed last. This provided a not-so welcoming atmosphere for them as the dreaded European force-field extended about ten-feet from the stage providing an awkward buffer from the crowd to the band. Regardless of the weird dynamic, Mondo Ray put on a hell of a show with their high energy garage rock/punk that would have fit in nicely with anyone’s SXSW line-up had they been there. Oh yeah, and the drummer is ridiculous, beating out hard-driving tempos and slamming downbeats like there was no tomorrow.

After they left, it was only a couple of minutes before Jay and the crew (bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes) took the stage for a non-stop fifty minute set where even switches between instrumentations were filled with heavy noise guitar providing absolutely no relief. The antithesis of banter-filled bands, Jay Reatard only spoke (or more like shouted) the names of each track prior to playing them. And play them did he ever…

Chaotically rushing through hits from 2006’s Blood Visions and 2008’s Matador Singles, Jay was in his element gracefully sliding up and down his guitar neck without missing a beat even during the head-banging choruses. It was like witnessing a real-life guitar hero game. Without a doubt, the highlight was his rendition of “My Shadow” on speed, taking the 3+ minute track and shrinking it into a mindboggling 145 seconds. Absolutely unreal. Needless to say the one-minute “It’s Not a Substitute” was more of a blur than a song. Although exuding energy from every pore of their body, it somehow didn’t stick with the audience. Contrary to the more boisterous Black Lips turnout, Reatard was able to draw the elitist garage punk enthusiasts who were incredibly bashful even for European standards.

Regardless, Reatard completely owned the night. When the last inkling of reverb faded out after they left the stage, I was left to compile my thoughts and try to sort out the auditory haze I just experience. The question of “what just happened” never got fully answered and only until my neck became less stiff and my hearing less buzzy did I feel recovered – and that was a good three days later. So yeah, it was a great night.

Setlist:
An Ugly Death
It’s So Easy
Not A Substitute
My Shadow
Oh It’s Such A Shame
See/Saw
All Over Again
I’m Watching You
Blood Visions
Nightmares
Fading All Away
Trapped Here
Greed Money Useless Children
Hammer I Miss You
Waiting for Something
Let It All Go

Jay Reatard // See/Saw

Jay Reatard // Always Wanting More