Hiya.

My name is Tony Ballinger, and I'm a web designer living in Oak Park, Illinois.
When I'm not designing for the web, I enjoy music, go to concerts and play with gadgets.

22-20s @ Schubas

August 7th, 2005

They rocked. No question about it. Solid blues set with a UK flavor to it. They played my favorite too – a b-side called "Cut You Down". It has lyrics that remind me a lot of John Lee Hookers "Bad Like Jesse James". The lyrics go something like this:

Well when I get big enough I swear I’m gonna cut you down… Well when I get strong enough I swear I’m gonna cut you down… well it might be in ten years… and it might be in a week… if I get there to late… I’ll get you in your sleep… but I swear I’m gonna cut you down…

Ok, so it’s not exactly poetry, but it works in a live setting. However, as much as I enjoy the brit-blues of the 22-20s, the show was actually stolen to some extent by the opening band Marjorie Fair. They came off as a sort of Death Cab-eque band: mopey songs with sad lyrics. But they had nice big guitars for the climax of each song, and unusual video projections that made their crestfallen tunes come off a bit more genuinely than I had expected from their CD. I’ll certainly be seeing them again.

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