"We're officially classic rock,"
joked Jimi Haha, the eccentric frontman of Jimmie's Chicken Shack, who
celebrated their 25th anniversary last night at Rams Head Live in Baltimore. While their 20th anniversary show had purposefully highlighted the band's different eras,
the silver anniversary was a decidedly looser affair, with no setlist to guide
them through an evening of jams and personnel changes.
Former-WHFS disc jockey Rob Timm had the
honor of introducing them, encouraging the audience to "Please
welcome the fowlest band in the land, Jimmie's Chicken Shack!" As the
crowd cheered with acclamation, the guys (Haha on vocals/guitar, Christian Valiente
on bass, Jerome Maffeo on drums, and Dave "Double D" Dowling filling
in for the band's current lead guitarist Island Styles) got things rolling with
a pair of classics, "Sitting with the Dog" and
"Blood." "Dropping Anchor" was dedicated to a fan/friend
who'd flown in from San Diego to have his bachelor party at the show.
"Give it up for him. He's dropping anchor and getting married," Haha
said, offering him the first shot from a bottle of Patrón that would
be empty by the night's end.
"Lazy Boy Dash" marked the first
selection from Bring Your Own Stereo, and although Haha flubbed some of
the lyrics, he got a chance to redeem himself on his favorite track from
that album, "Fill in the Blank." Jimi called up guitarist
Matt Jones from the back of the venue to join them on a rowdy "School
Bus" detour back to their first album, before they swerved back into BYOS
territory with "Pure." That song's backing vocals were
impeccable, but Haha messed up his guitar part on the mellow "30
Days" that followed. No longer in possession of the Afro-puffed
"wig of shame" used to humiliate members
after they fuck up, Haha volunteered to wear a set of pink, light-up cat ears
that Double D dubbed "the ears of fear" during "Let's Get
Flat." Casey Hean accompanied them on the number. Hean was not present at
the 20th anniversary, so it was my first time seeing the wild guitarist. While
most members have always been willing to let Haha take the spotlight, Casey's
ebullience created an interesting dynamic onstage, as he competed for
attention. Jimi eventually gave up on the tune,
claiming, "No one wants to hear any more of this fucking song. This song
is stupid," before wrapping it up with a noisy "big rock
ending." During "Outhouse," the crowd
tossed a big-titted blow-up doll around like a beach ball.
She ultimately made her way to the stage, where Haha demonstrated on
her inflatable breasts how assholes in the '90s would grope crowdsurfing girls,
and maintained that he would stop songs when he saw this happening. Keep in mind,
this was decades before the Architects and Drake went viral for doing the same
thing last year.
Mike Sipple, whose ":"
jersey still fit, took a seat at the drums for "Spiraling," which also featured
an all-too-brief sit-in from original bassist Ché Lemon, who was then traded
out for Derrick Dorsey on rarity "Slow Change." While it
may be Haha's favorite JCS tune, it had only been available on a mail-in EP, so
its scarcity resulted in fewer crowdmembers singing along and a consequential drop in
the room's energy level. Fortunately, a raging "When You Die
You're Dead" brought everybody back onto the same page. My
personal favorite, "Another Day" came next, with a surprise drop-in from Kelly
Bell on congas. I didn't take note of the time, as I never expected them to
jam on it so long, but several solos took it well over the ten-minute mark,
culminating in a swirling, almost psychedelic groove. For
a cool-down, Matt Jones returned for "Beautiful," the only
number performed from Re.Present and the only song of the
evening that Double D did not play on.
As the lineup switched yet again, Jimi
remarked, "We've got three songs left. We're supposed to be done at 1, but
fuck that. 'Cause George Clinton fucking went past 1." (P-Funk had played Rams
Head the previous night.) The first of the three was their 1999 charting
single, "Do Right." Jimi went the reggae route
towards the song's end, delving into Sublime's "Smoke Two
Joints" and teasing "No Woman, No Cry." "I've never played
a solo in that song since I wrote it," he revealed with a smirk after plucking
out a slinky improvised passage. Then they loaded the stage with all three lead
guitarists, both drummers, Ché, and Kelly Bell. "We're like the fucking
Allman Brothers," chuckled Haha before giving props to John Mayer for his
guitarwork in Dead & Company. He then proclaimed All Mighty Senators to be
the best Maryland band, spouting off a few lyrics from "No Clothes On" prior to "Milk." Every guitarist took a solo, with Haha holding up a wooden Maryland
flag with the word "Boo" emblazoned across the Calvert sections
during Double D's. Before his own solo, Jimi boasted that we were about to
witness the "best guitar licks you've ever seen," and lapped his tongue up and
down the fretboard of his six-string. "Eric
Clapton will never do that," confirmed the drunk guy next to me.
As the show wound down, things got
emotional, with Double D disclosing that Kelly Bell had saved his life a few
years back, and a misty-eyed Haha referencing the lyrics to "Stop." "We
had a song where I said, 'I feel lucky I made it to 25.' Now the band is 25." He also made sure to clarify that we weren't supposed to be booing Dave's solo,
but that the sign was in tribute to Ramon "Boo" Valdez, Rams Head's
talent buyer that passed away in 2016. Of course, no JCS show would be complete
without their raucous first single, "High," so they made it their closer. "I
don't want to end this show or concert or whatever the fuck it was with
applause. I want to end it with a 'Boo,' requested Jimi. As he held up the the
flag artwork again, the crowd booed their approval, grateful to have had this
band in their lives for 25 years, not to mention twenty minutes after curfew.
JIMMIE'S CHICKEN SHACK - 02.17.18 - RAMS HEAD LIVE (2 hours, 20 minutes)
SET -
Sitting with the Dog / Blood / Dropping Anchor / Lazy Boy Dash / Fill in the Blank / Waiting / School Bus / Pure / 30 Days / Let's Get Flat / Outhouse / Spiraling / Slow Change / When You Die You're Dead / Another Day (feat. Kelly Bell) / Beautiful / Do Right > Smoke Two Joints > No Woman, No Cry (tease) > Do Right / No Clothes On (tease) / Milk (feat. Kelly Bell) / High
