Keeping Up With the Jones's | livemusic.fm

Let's face it Leeds has had it rough for the last couple of years - premier league relegation and just general "grim up North-ness!" The Jones, however, showed us that life is not all bad once you get North of the M25. In fact the M25 (and no doubt the M1) had contributed to their 7 hour odyssey to get to the gig at the Dublin Castle in North Camden - and this made their sharp, balls-out, rocky performance all the more impressive. Kris Jones is a consummate front-man: tall, eye-catching and with a powerful rock-voice that can do both an intimate melody, as well as thundering out a chorus to the rafters. He looks right, he sounds right, and he gives a real presence and credibility to the whole Jones crew. I was just a bit surprised he was Welsh (since they all come from Leeds!)_ ... but then I suppose with a name like Jones I should have guessed! Anyway that probably explains the richness of his voice - not quite Tom Jones, but way, way better than Aled Jones! The rest of the Jones acquitted themselves ably - some interesting riffs and textures from the two guitarists, Kev Jones and Adam Jones, a solid bass player in Jono Jones and a crashingly tight sticksman, Mike Jones. You see they are all called Jones ... The Jones. Anyway, names aside the whole ensemble give the numbers a good solid rock foundation. If someone could just give a few members pf the band an "I'm a Rockstar Extreme Make-Over" then they'd be perfect ... But perhaps, actually, this might have made Kris stand out all the more - and since rock is mostly about the front-man maybe it's not that necessary. Perhaps I'm just too used to seeing London-based bands work on their image rather than their songwriting ... The Jones song-writing did fortunately stand-out, and "Shotgun" was particularly noticeable. There were one or two other pretty darn good rock anthems in there too, and Kris even dedicated one of the newer numbers to Ricky Hatton ... "you fucken legend" ... there was definitely an affinity in the songs with the pugnacious welterweight. Potent and Northern. I'd enjoyed the support StarChamber - a gutsy, almost folksy, indie band; I even appreciated the slightly clichéd Camden punk sound of the Telegraphs; who headlined the gig after the Jones. But really there was only one band of the night for me - the Jones blew my socks off! Leeds United may still be struggling and giving fans little to be happy about - but at least the West Yorkshire city still has something to be proud of - the Jones. If they play near you already, then you're a lucky bastard! If not and you, like me, have to wait for the next time they brave a 7 hour journey down South - then make sure you keep up with the Jones's and get to see them live!