Concert Review: Jed Parsons – Whammy Bar 11 June 2021

Despite the wintery June weather, Jed Parsons dragged us all off the couch and into the Whammy Bar for a good dose of dancing on Saturday night. Jed and his band rocked our socks off with the kind of feet tapping, hip-swaying tunes you don’t mind hopping out of bed for.Opening for Jed was the wacky and wonderful Gareth Thomas who used to be in the band Goodshirt. Gareth, Jonathan burgess and Joseph McElhaney, warmed up the stage and the dance floor with a set ranging from low-down indie-pop to backing-track supported disco-pop songs.

The set pleased all with every imaginable sound coming out of his pedalboard. From a vocoder to pitch-shifted harmonies, throughout Gareth’s set, there was crunch and clean galore. Even a whistle solo!

An explosion of blues, Jazz and full-blown pop-rock meet on stage as Jed and his band begin their set. Kicking the set off with songs from his new EP Brunch, the crowd sings along to the lyrics they know well.

Moses Robbins and Matt Andrews hold down the groove whilst Emily Browning and Jack page fill the harmonic space. All five members on stage do an impressive job of singing harmonies, dancing and playing their instruments all at the same time.

A crowd favourite for its humour, Movie Knight is filled with crafty lyrics like “it’s okay to admit that you just didn’t get inception, I fell asleep when it got too deep” that make you laugh out loud. A tight groove supports Jed’s vocals and layers upon layers of harmonies by all band members.

Followed shortly by Dreams, a song off his first album, Jed places personal inflection politely in between Matt Andrews’ driving drums and jazzy piano riffs by Jack Page.

Introducing What You Need as “his side of the conversation to mental health”, there were murmurs of agreement and recognition within the audience. It is cool to see artists writing songs as odes to mental health, such a very important and prevalent topic in the music community.

Finishing with Everybody’s Stupid, a song that is well known by the crowd that yelled along with it. Jed’s catchy tunes and catchy lyrics left the audience buzzing even after they left the stage.

A night that leaves you feeling inspired. If you’re stuck in writers block, go put on Jed Parsons new album.

– Jemilah Ross-Hayes and Koen Aldershof

Jed Parsons Set list

25
I Need Her
Time
Movie Knight
Get Desperate
Move On
She’s The One
Sad Together
Dreams
Feeling Sad
Bad Bad Person
What You Need
Get Lost
Everybody’s Stupid
Encore
Playstation & Porn