Jay Reatard & Cheap Time

Last night I finally got to see Jay Reatard in a decent setting. A few months back I saw him open for The Black Keys and the venue was less than ideal for his type of show. Last night I saw him at The Echo in LA and it was fantastic. Up close and intimate. The energy in the room was great. Jay of course is amazingly prolific and so he has so many songs to choose from for a set. In the set there wasn't a bad song. Even some of the new songs from recent singles kept the energy of the show going. The room was filled with fans and so new songs like "See-Saw" didn't seem new to them. There wasn't that lull that happens in so many shows when the new songs are played. And the great thing about Jay is that even if the songs were new to you, he write such catchy hooks and melodies that you'll instantly pick them up and rock out.

Opening for Jay was Cheap Time. I must confess going into the show I didn't do any prior research on them. They were great. I picked up their LP and a single while I was there. When I got home I was looking over the LP and saw the songs were written by J. Novak. That was a red flag to me. Could this be Jeffrey Novak from "Jeffrey Novak's One Man Band"? I have a heard a few singles from Jeffrey and they were great. And after a quick internet search I confirmed that this was indeed the Jeffrey's latest vehicle. The show won me over and now I know why. I'm definitely a new fan.

Anyways here are a few photos from the show and of course as always I've added a link to my Flickr account where I have posted about 40 photos. So if either Jay Reatard or Cheap Time come to your town, please do yourself a favor and go see them. I've also included a shot of the set list, which I was also lucky enough to take home with me. Hurray for me!!!!