21+, Positive I.D. Required. 7:00p Doors / 8:00p show
Jon Langford and The Bright Shiners is a new project featuring welsh fundamentalist punk rocker Jon Langford (Mekons, 3 Johns, Waco Brothers etc.) teamed up with charismatic jazz singer and experimental keyboardist Alice Spencer (Shinyribs, Barkers), fellow Four Lost Soul and guitar wizard John Szymanski and longtime deputy Mekon Tamineh Gueramy on violin and great hair. The album comes out on Tiny Global Productions of Valencia (Nightingales, House of All) this April and is called Where It Really Starts.
When Jesse Ahern walks onstage, he looks like a regular guy — albeit one with a Gretsch guitar strapped across his body and an anchor tattoo under his right eye. As he tears through his set, easily rousing brand new crowds to shout his choruses back in his face, it's clear Jesse could be everybody's friend.
Ahern's tunes hold high the clenched fists of the working class. Others put on full display the raw, open heart of a man who is dedicated to love, and has known enough loss to cherish what he has at home. Still others reveal the tender, protective arms of a father who misses his kids when he's off touring the world.