Gig review: THE PRETTY THINGS & THE IMPERIAL CROWNS – Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

July 8th, 2017 by petefeenstra

Jimmie Wood – Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

There’s a lot to be said for the art of performance. And tonight The Imperial Crowns front man Jimmie Wood works hard to preach the blues to a sun drenched crowd initially cowering on the edges of the festival square, as it’s 34 in the shade.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man, and a band that is surprisingly big on restraint while exploring plenty of variety.

The Imperial Crowns appear to have lost little during their 12 or so year absence, while gaining Jimmie’s daughter Rachel C. Wood on vocals. Wood senior meanwhile, deals in fire and brimstone and his sheer willpower sets about winning over a crowd with a performance that they will never forget.

The Imperial Crowns– Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

From the moment he introduces the band individually through a deliberately distorted harp mic and encourages us all to commune with the band, there’s only one place to be in Bordeaux tonight and that is at the church of the Imperial Crowns.

And while Jimmie could be something out of a David Lynch movie – he teases out the eternal conflict between love and evil – he’s joined by Rachel C. Wood who harmonizes impressively on the opening aptly titled ‘I Gotta Right (To Wear These Those Rock & Roll Shoes)’.

The song’s sludgy, almost second line beat is topped by JJ’s slide and a stop-time woo-hoo refrain that cleverly draws the crowd in.

Father and daughter provide the focus, especially when alternating lead and harmony vocals, but they are still an integral part of a band that is the glorious sum of its parts.

The Imperial Crowns– Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

For while Jimmie leaves his startled crowd in no doubt as to the fact they are listening to: “The Imperial Crowns from Los Angeles, California” – a mantra he repeats about a dozen times through a rock, blues, gospel, soul, funk and psyche fuelled set – it’s the depth of the band’s material and sonic detail that makes them special.

The heavy duty funk of ‘Lil Death’ for example, transforms his apocalyptic rants about the torments of hell and death into the French orgasmic meaning of ‘La petite mort’. He digs deep on the vocal and the band members play as if they’ve just escaped a jail sentence rather than a 12 year sabbatical.

The Imperial Crowns– Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

The dapper guitarist JJ Holiday provides both a visual and musical counterpoint to Wood’s machinations. He’s a fluid player whose slide playing provides both soaring leads and fluidity, while the occasional use of wah-wah provides a dynamic lift.

The dancing bassist Jon Avila hits the stage like a featherweight. He locks into the grooves with the hard working drummer Billy ‘Champagne’ Sullivan, whose lightness of touch often belies his thundering stick work.

The Imperial Crowns– Relache Festival, Bordeaux, SW France, 7 July 2017

Rachel C. sings her first lead line of the night on the stuttering rhythm and Stonesy gospel feel of ‘Love Blues’, complete with another Jimmie preamble that exhorts us to: “Feel the love, but there’s a price to be paid.”

The tightly wrapped funk of ‘Alter of Love’ is another highlight, with great slide and a John Popper style virtuoso harp break, while ‘Liberate’ reaches for the truly anthemic, as the set builds up a gospel style tension that is belatedly resolved by the show stopping ‘Rambling Woman Blues’, which eclipses all that’s gone before in a big psychedelic finish.