PRINTJack's Mannequin rocks Jack Daniel's free show
The piano-pop group played The Blue Note Sunday night
November 9, 2009 | 11:20 a.m. CST
“Dark Blue”
“The Resolution”
“Crashin’”
“Into the Airwaves”
“I’m on Fire”
“The Mixed Tape”
“Drop Out”
“Swim”
“Bloodshot”
“Last Straw, AZ”
“Spinning”
“I’m Ready”
“Bruised”
“La La Lie”
“MFEO”
“American Girl”
“Is everybody getting wasted on Jack Daniel's?” asked Jack’s Mannequin frontman Andrew McMahon halfway through his band’s set Sunday night at The Blue Note. “Well you're not the only ones!”
The Blue Note, transformed into Jack Daniel’s Studio No. 7 thanks to overwhelming corporate sponsorship, hosted the intimate show, which was only open to those who won tickets at local bars, on the radio or online. At every turn, audience members were bombarded with swag bearing the No. 7 and trademark Jack Daniel’s styling.
Nashville singer-songwriter Erin McCarley kicked the night off with a jazzy, acoustic-based set of songs from her album Love, Save the Empty. Her powerful voice soared on her original material, but the highlight of her set was a vocal-and-beatbox rendition of Suzanna Vega’s early-’90s hit “Tom’s Diner.” Loud chatter from most of the crowd marred her set (free alcohol + college students + acoustic music typically ends in unrest), but McCarley, in a short dress and cowboy boots, easily built a rapport with audience members, joking with some in the front row.
In the end, though, it was clear that Jack’s Mannequin would own the night. Opening with “Dark Blue,” from 2005’s Everything In Transit, the band – McMahon, guitarist Bobby Anderson, bassist Jonathan Sullivan and drummer Jay McMillian – flip-flopped between Transit material and songs from last year’s The Glass Passenger.
The stage was bathed in red lights for a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” and McMahon put on his best swagger for a set-closing cover of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” which found the singer atop his piano, leading the packed house in a sing-along. Elsewhere, the band bounced through the best-friend anthem “La La Lie” and finished off “MFEO,” which was dressed up with a spine-tingling extended outro that included a nod to U2’s “With or Without You.”
In between songs, McMillan — reminiscent of The Muppets’ Animal as he pounded away on his drums, his long, curly hair flying in every direction — and Sullivan passed a Jack bottle back and forth, and McMahon carefully nursed his red Solo cup throughout the night.
If anything, the free-flowing alcohol made the night more enjoyable for everyone. As McMahon stomped on his piano during “Bloodshot” and led the crowd in a floor-shaking rendition of “Bruised,” the smile on his face was telling. The crowd’s feverish reaction might have even surprised the band itself. “We never know what to expect at these sort of things,” McMahon said of the corporate sponsorship later in the set, “but this is one hell of a party!”
What a party, indeed.
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