Jonathan and Tommy at the Make-Out Room: Night 1

Last night, Jonathan and Tommy began a four-night stint at San Francisco's Make-Out Room. The show was a keeper.

During the sequence in "Let Her Go" where Jonathan shrieks the female character's protests, he included a line I'd never heard before. He always says, "You controlling bastard!" and sometimes says, "You're just like my father!" but "I have issues you will *never* understand!" was a new one on me. Fleshes out the character just a wee bit more. Nice.

They also debuted a new song that I believe is now my favorite song. I'll paraphrase the lyrics:

despite having every advantage, why are we still stultified?

i do rebel
i do rebel
against the ways that've trained us all too well

i do deny
i do deny
and thus reject the forces that stultify

i do let go
i do let go
and let the moment tell us where we need to go

Combine that with a driving beat and some soulful up-tempo strumming, and you've got a hit.

Over at Mission Mission, we had a contest in which we gave away some tickets to readers (Thanks, Make-Out Room!), and our first winner had this to say:

The show was fantastic, definitely all I'd hoped for and more. Jonathan is a tremendously charismatic entertainer, and a clever songwriter to boot. There's nothing like going to a concert where you can tell, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the band is up there having the time of their lives. This was one of those concerts.

What a review! Thanks, Joel! To me, the band looked most joyous during their final encore, a rendition of the completely Modern Lovers-esque cellphone song in which Jonathan led the crowd in a climactic sing-a-long.

Photo by wizardmountain.