Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 20, 1989 Inventive Jackson sets Hill a-Blaze BY MICHAEL PAUL FISCHER FANCY lighting, elaborate set-designs, big hair... Joe Jackson doesn't need any of this stuff to put over his tunes on stage (usually). Instead, the man employs his killer instrumentalists in the most essential tactics through which a live show can offer something excit- ingly different from studio records: his no-overdubs- Live 1980-86 album, even without the visual imme- diacy, reads like a textbook example of how to manipu- late an audience's sense of surprise by reshaping old fa- vorites into imaginative new arrangements and juxta- posing their variety in clever ways. , ,His new album, Blaze of Glory - played in its hour-long entirety midway through Monday night's ,ousing two-and-a-half-hour, 25-song show at the Hill. Auditorium - itself exploits an ebb-and-flow sequence toa concert-like effect. And although its predictable se- quence encountered some restlessness during the tour's earlier New York shows (the Englishman Jackson's adopted home-city), the Blaze set comes across surpris- ingly well tonight before a less-demanding crowd of JJ enthusiasts. Joe Jackson isn't going to have to try too bard to win over this crowd. But his show characteristi- cally offers some interesting gambles - some are hits, oth-rs misses. Throughout, a celebratory looseness and sense of humor inform the antagonistic sarcasm of Jackson with the audience, as well as some side-splitting sight gags: "There 's always some fucking rock critic," complains Jackson in his introduction to "The Jet Set," Big World's '60s-secret-agent style guitar twanger, "who has an interpretation of this song as... arrogant" - and then the gawkish, gangly Jackson does me one better, donning a quilted beach-cap and garish sunglasses in a shamelessly funny parody of the ugly American tourist. The pillow he once stuffed up his shirt for this song returns to an even greater belly- laugh in "Nineteen Forever," the hope-I-die-before-I Innovative performances and eclectic costuming clashed with slavery to theme on Monday number which Jackson dedicates to "all the great bands that were on tour this summer"; the casually-attired singer returns to the stage in a sequin-jacket and shiny plastic leaning-tower-of-hair pompadour, heaving ing offers perhaps the cleanest concert sound I've ever heard (the thunderous blast of Gary Burke's drums solo to "Rant and Rave" sounds enormous). Following Jackson's elegant piano solo, a big-band- figure) to cutely cleave the first and second halves of the Blaze of Glory set with a pleasant interlude. And while Jackson's banter does help to clarify the album's loosely conceptual arrangement of songs about youth- ful enthusiasm and concerns of aging in the thir- tysomething generation, playing the whole album in order is nevertheless an indulgence worthy only of a Pink Floyd album - and even these geezers mixed 'em up last time around. Sure, every performer wants to play all his new stuff on its first go at the road -- and the joyous "Me and You (Against the World)" posi- tively explodes with live energy - but outside of the hour-long Blaze set, we get only ten other Jackson fa- vorites, plus a three-song Jumpin' Jive medley in the second encore. And this whole attention to theme un- characteristically saddles the self-effacing spontaneity which makes a Jackson show so entertaining. Still, the performances dazzle in the drawn-out con- text, from synthesist Ed Roynesdal's beautiful violin solo for "Sentimental Thing," to guitarist Zummo's gargling turbo-computer sounds on the tongue-in-cheek "Discipline." And for the textured splendor of the clos- ing "A Slow Song," I'll take on any of Jackson's audi- ence-challenging gestures. Joe Jackson figures you're up to more than just a greatest hits revue, and when you leave his concert - you feel as though a close friend has cut through the curtains and all the crap for just a short while. 0 'There's always to 'The Jet Set,' interpretation Jackson does sunglasses in a some fucking rock critic,' complains Jackson in his introduction Big World's '60s-secret-agent style guitar twanger, 'who has an of this song as... arrogant' - and then the gawkish, gangly me one better, donning a quilted beach-cap and garish shamelessly funny parody of the ugly American tourist. around his mike stand ' la Robert Plant before being removed from the stage by medics amidst a lower-back- strain finale. The crack players in Jackson's 10-piece band offer a motley clash of outfits: bassist Graham Maby, a 15- year sidekick, wears a suit and tie while the diminutive, manic-guitar-stylist Vinnie Zummo, in tie-dyed. T- shirt, baggy pants and jogging shoes, has adopted a New Age-hippie look; and trumpeter Michael Morreale, stomach poking out of a Giants football jersey, doffs his Yankees hat to the crowd in a couch-potato-slouch which belies the intricate beauty of his solo to an exquisite instrumental version of Night and Day's "Breaking Us in Two." The stage is arranged out of high school gym risers and scattered equipment cases. But the mix is far from sloppy - tonight's engineer- a-blazin' takes on Body and Soul's explosive "You Can't Get What You Want ('til You Know What You Want)" and opens the show with a drum intro and a four-piece brass blast. Enthusiastic but a bit leaden, it leaves me longing for the euphoric guitar heroics through which Tom Teeley replaces the horns on the live album. A pointless version of "Right and Wrong" follows - reduced to just Maby's bass and Jackson's vocals for the first three-fifths; this is revision for revi- sion's own sake. But "We Can't Live Together" enjoys the best kind of Jackson translation onto stage, ex- panded to incorporate the dual blues/techno-screech so- los of guitarists Teeley and Zummo. Jackson's invention sometimes proves more clever than captivating - tonight's version of "Breaking Us In Two" strangely deletes the touching lyrics in order (I -- __.. GE RIOO The Personal Column MICHIGAN DAILY CLASSIFIEDADS a 0 VIOLIN LESSONS 'U Beginning through Advanced. Doctorate from U of M. 20 Years Experience. Near Central Campus. Thursday, Sept. 21 The Brecht Company is holding open auditions today and tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 22) for The Breadshop (1930) at 7-9 p.m. in East Quad room 126. Audition pieces not nec- essary but encouraged; design and crew hands also welcome. For more information, call 426-5389. Basement Arts is holding auditions for Alice in Wonderland, directed by Aaron Davidman. Sign up in the "green room" (next to Arena Theater in FriezeBldg. basement). For in- formation, call 930-0854 or the de- partment of drama. Monday, Sept. 25 Auditions for Long Time Vince Yesterday, directed by Charles Jackson, are today and tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept. 26) at 6:30 p.m. in 2518 Frieze. Prepare a one-minute contemporary monologue, poem, or Write with us Call 7640552 prose to be memorized. Sign up for audition time slots outside 2528 Frieze. Six to eight women needed. Auditions and Opportunities runs Wednesdays in the Daily Arts page. If you have items for the column, call 763-0379. THE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS ARE A GREAT WAY TO GET FAST RESULTS CALL 764-0557 For More Info. 663-8392 40 0. UAC's Own coed a cappella singing group Have you considered Health? How much do you know about careers in: .Um a career in MASS September 1 In the MEETING 9 (after UAC meeting) Pendleton Room AUDITIONS September 21 & 22 sign up at meeting For more info call the UAC office at 763-1107 or stop by 2105 Michigan Union You can learn more about the variety of career opportunities in the health sciences at Perspectives on careers in Health. This program will help you identify professional opportunities through an informal exchange with faculty, staff, and students from the The University of Michigan Health Science Programs (School of Public Health, School of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, School of Dentistry, and the School of Medicine.) Please join us for Perspectives on Careers in Health. All students are welcome to attenid. q Wednesday, Sept. 20, 7-9 pm Bursley Library Refreshments will be served L ~University of Michigan Health Science Program 4ยข a; THE COLOR OF MONEY The "Green" starts at $5.00 an hour. But there's more! Earn up to $7.00 an hour. Earn bonuses. Enjoy flexible, evening hours.