World Party/Jellyfish

The Ritz, New York, NY

Karl Wallinger is fascinating to watch on stage. He's a left-handed guitarist, but like Hendrix, he plays a right-hand guitar. So all of his chords are backwards. On top of that, he normally strummed with a pick but he used fingers only for solos. Each time he went into a solo, he had an eye-catching way of tossing aside his pick to the stage floor to play with his fingertips.

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I was there with my friend Tim, and he bade me goodbye to catch a train back to Jersey during the encore break. Just as he was exiting the building, World Party returned to the stage with Sinead O'Connor in tow to lend her voice to a few numbers.

And if you listen now you might hear
A new sound coming in as an old one disappears.
See the world in just one grain of sand.
You better take a closer look.
Don't let it slip right through your hand.
Won't you please hear the call.

The world says:
Put the message in the box.
Put the box into the car.
Drive the car around the world
Until you get heard.

~~World Party, "Put the Message in the Box"

The first thing one noticed when opener Jellyfish would take the stage--well, apart from the Christmas lights, colorful bric-a-brac, and little white picket fence that the band set up as stage dressing--would be that the group stood fully side-by-side while performing. Drummer/lead singer Andy Sturmer was integral to Jellyfish's rich vocal harmonies and would not be relgated to back-of-the-stage status, and he played on a minimal, stand-up drum kit at the front of the stage with the rest of his bandmates.

The sound at The Ritz was top-notch, but Sturmer's voice was not on this night. Fighting off a sore throat, he started off okay but rapidly deteriorated. By the time they got to their showpiece cover of Badfinger's "No Matter What," Sturmer was painfully struggling to hit the high notes.