Jim Bob, Gorilla, 11th November 2021

I’ve got to admit, I’m here because of Carter USM. Then again looking at the audience surely everyone is? There’s certainly a lot of Carter shirts around, many spread over ample middle aged bellies. That’s not to play down Jim Bob’s excellent post-Carter career, but I’ll forever picture him, fringe unfurled on TOTP and Post Historic Monsters will always be one of my favourite albums to sing along to. Jim gets this. There’s plenty of his solo songs in the set, but plenty of Carter too. In fact by my reckoning it’s about 50/50. An early outing of Lean On Me I Won’t Fall Over sounds utterly glorious, but to be fair pretty much every song does. Jim looks glorious too in his polka dot tie and shiny jacket under the Gorilla lights. Backed by a full band, the drum machine long gone, it sounds proper beefy. As is often the case though when you’re watching an act that’s been around a while, but you’ve not seen before, you’re just hoping the voice is still there. Fear not though, Jim sounds fantastic. Perhaps not always the most celebrated vocalist, his punk snarl is very melodic. He gets a lot of help from the audience too who aren’t afraid to join in. His vocals are perhaps best when it’s just him and the piano for an extended mid-set interlude in which we get ‘Johnny Cash’ and ‘Good Grief Charlie Brown’, but it’s all about the lyrics isn’t it. From the heartfelt to satirical bite, they all feel like classics, as suited to intimate pub singalongs, as to here in sold out clubs. Watching Jim Bob is joyous experience, considering some of the lyrics, he’s uncanny gift of turning everything into a celebration. It is the Carter tracks that get everyone pogoing like it’s 1991 and ‘The Only Looney Left in Town’ turns Gorilla into a sweat box and by the time we get to ‘Bloodsport for All’ in the encore, the jacket is gone as Jim brings Gorilla to its knees after 90 minutes of pogo party perfection.