When scouring the Belly Up concert calendar (or any venue’s calendar for that matter) for some upcoming gigs, I usually end up referencing myspace once I find an artist that I think might interest me. I listen to a few songs and it’s either yeah or nay. It was yeah for Jackie Greene. The first song on the music player “Animal” instantly caught my attention. Then after listening to “I Don’t Live in a Dream” and “Shaken” I was sold.

The venue was fairly empty when we arrived just after 8pm. The opening act (Johnzo West) came on shortly after we got seated and finished before 9pm when Jackie took the stage. While not packed the venue was pretty full at this point. This was a pleasant surprise that he came on at 9pm. I’ve been sick for the last couple weeks so the idea of being up til midnight wasn’t a consideration. I almost didn’t make the show.

The beginning of the set took me by surprise. The first six songs were straight up blues tunes. This wasn’t the vibe I got while checking out his music online. No worries though, I’m a fan of the blues. During the second song the boys were showing off their chops with an extended instrumental, this lead into another blues number “The Rusty Nail”. After this block of blues Jackie traded his electric guitar for the acoustic and brought it down a few notches. My friend Paul said the acoustic number sounded like a John Cougar Mellencamp song. (I grew up when “Jack & Diane” was a hit...he’ll always be John Cougar) This was followed by a country song and then back to the electric guitar for what would be my favorite song of the night “Mexican Girl.” The guys went at it with some dueling solos in the middle of the song which is off the album Gone Wanderin’. I listened to this song online and didn’t care for the vocals of the recorded version. It wasn’t a smooth as how he delivered it live which is more the style of his new album – Giving Up the Ghost.

Jackie proceeded to showcase his skills behind the keyboard for a couple of songs the second of which was “I Don’t Live in a Dream.” Near the end of the set the guys got locked into another instrumental that went on a bit too long. Jackie was kneeling down at his pedals and I couldn’t tell what he was doing. Then came the “Taxman”, which is apparently a Beatles song. I wasn’t familiar with the song, but dug it. Since I wasn’t feeling fantastic, I was about ready to leave but not before I got to hear one of the songs I came for “Animal.”  This was about 10:40pm so they had been playing for over an hour and a half.

While not exactly what I expected the live performance was good. Lots of people were dancing and enjoying themselves which is always nice to see.

With four albums under his belt it feels like Jackie Greene is still figuring out who he his. That’s the impression I got after seeing him live. Regardless, he’s a talented artist and his most recent album made such an impression that I bought it on Itunes.

www.myspace.com/jackiegreene