I didn’t know what to expect from this concert. The first time I saw Hamell On Trial, on Mejeriet in Lund one and a half year ago, I hadn’t heard him before and got completely blown away by this one-man hurricane. I, and the majority of the about thirty other persons who were there, went home having a new favourite artist. Despite this, I haven’t listened too much on him. The music that seems brilliant live is not half as fun on record. Hamell’s thing is raw energy, contact with the audience, jokes and stories, and that don’t survive to the recorded format. Still, “Choochtown” from 2000 and the live record “Ed’s not dead – Hamell comes alive” from 2001 are good records. His latest album though, “Tough Love” from last year, was a disappointment. Instead of Hamell + his scrappy old guitar = good record, it’s Hamell + the worlds most tired grunge band = songs destroyed and no good record. So the question for the evening was if Hamell had lost his grip or if he would make a great show again.
There is a lot more people at Mejeriet this time than last and the big room is closed off so the small room where Hamell is going to perform is packed. Ninety percent of the audience are men and ninety percent of them have beards and bold or semi-bold heads. Ed Hamell enters the stage alone; thank God he didn’t bring the band from “Tough Love”. And he doesn’t disappoint. I’m amazed how this old man alone with his guitar can sound like a force of nature. On record it’s one thing, at a show with the right volume, Hamell’s punk energy and contact with the audience, it’s a completely different story. Hamell together with a crowd is fantastic. Sure, he makes the same jokes and the same remarks at all shows, some of them he had done for years – but the well rehearsed show seem spontaneous. He has the audience in his hand from the first chord to the last.
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The setting is as basic as possible: on stage there is only Hamell in black t-shirt, with acoustic guitar, amp and mic, lit by white light. The show is not really a concert in the ordinary sense of the word but a mix of concert, spoken word and stand up comedy. There is social commentary on for example the opening anti-war “Don’t Kill” and on “There Is a God”, which is about his happy dream where George W. Bush and the likes of him realizes what they’ve done and commit suicide. He also asks the audience if there is anyone from the (right wing) TV company Fox there, and if there is they can FUCK OFF (not too big chance in Lund eh, maybe that works better in USA). Good to see an artist from the USA that is not afraid to speak his mind about things.
One of the best songs of the evening (and most funny song whatsoever) is 7 seas, in which he claims his guitar is from 1937, and by the way it looks it can be true. Homage is paid to Johnny Cash, R.I.P., when he plays Folsom Prison Blues. The line “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die” is as popular at Mejeriet as in Folsom Prison. Why? Because it’s anti-authoritarian Hamell thinks. Maybe, but it’s still strange, because even though it’s a horrible statement it feels good to hear.
The songs he plays from the latest album “Tough Love” sound much better with only Hamell, without a superfluous band. Much of the new material is a bit different from the older stuff (for example the song “Tough Love” and a brand new song about how often he jerks off): less maniac punk energy and more melodic and low-key.
To finish off the concert, to show where he comes from I guess, Hamell plays a punk rock medley with Ramones “Rockaway Beach”, Clash’s “White Riot” and MC 5’s “Kick Out the Jams”. That’s almost the only part of the show that feels unnecessary. A few other things is not good either: sometimes it’s just to ladish, like when Hamell assumes all of the few women at the concert are there only because their boyfriends dragged them there. But all in all Hamell on Trial is one of the absolutely best live artists you can watch. Next time around I hope he has enough fans to play on the big stage.
/Erik Sandberg
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