Gig Review: JJ Bull At Dead Wax Digbeth
Football and Music go hand in hand with synth pop bridging the gap for an evening of good vibes, emotions and feelings with JJ Bull at the Dead Wax Digbeth in Birmingham.
Few artists have pioneered the genre of football and music in a way as entertaining and funny as JJ Bull; who has drawn from his background as an artist and as a podcaster for the Athletic TIFO football podcast for a unique fusion of talent and genre. He recognises this limits his commercial success; so, pivots it for a marketing tactic – these are songs about feelings and emotion that just happen to reference John McGinn and Adriano in Pro Evo 6. And; inspiration – songs like ‘If Dennis Bergkamp Can’ – deployed earlier in the set – remind us all of the unique status of celebrity/idol worship – just because Dennis Bergkamp can do these things, does mean that you can. “These gods are flawed,” he reminds us – “You’re overawed / They’re just people too.” Case in point; Bergkamp’s inability to travel by plane.
It is HOT in Birmingham today; but to its credit, Dead Wax never feels like a sweatbox. Two songs in; after a catchy number about Alexander Isak; Bull pivots to it being ‘Hotter than AC Milan 2005’ – reflective of the audience’s good-looks in the room; but also, he jokes – the weather. The mixing board allows for this tone to come across an upbeat; dance-y, energetic and lively set that echoes something of LCD Soundsystem when it really gets going – the synth pop really injects a good-natured humour and sense of feeling into the audience that are just here to have a good time.
These are songs about emotions, feelings and a sense of late-night indie dance that’s best experienced after seven beers and a dream. Bull tailors his set with classic improvisation depending on what city he’s in – the song that goes down the best here is of course ‘John McGinn has the Power of the Dinosaurs’, about the Aston Villa midfielder. This is tongue in cheek stuff – played to the Villa fanbase of the crowd. He allows for one song of improvisation: a fusion of Hearts’ league success paired with Spurs’ great escape from relegation – set to a G chord that turns into an A chord after asking the crowd to come up with something. It’s entertaining and lively; and has that air of whimsical fly-on-the-wall improvisation that makes the set always unpredictable from an already healthy back catalogue. There is no ‘Mikel Arteta’ today – it is Birmingham, after all and the lead in to the three hits to wrap up the set goes down a stormer. ‘Very unofficial Scotland world cup song’ is the kind of blunt-edged humour that you need from a set like this “The USA kinda sucks / but we got to go there anyway”; occupy the lyrics – there are few places that you’d have more fun at than spending a random Thursday night dancing about to a synth-pop rendition of the antics of Scott McTominay and Kiernan Tierney and Scotland’s World Cup dreams. By this point, Birmingham is his second – no longer his third – favourite city.
And then of course; there’s the nostalgia of ‘Adriano Shot Power 99’ It’s the final track – the hit – the belter – and it goes down like a storm. A tribute to a golden god – the chorus is upbeat; catchy and anthem ready: “Night after night, hour after hour” / “I need his 99 shot power”.
Unfortunately, trains meant that I missed the support; local outfit Sweaty Wednesday – but the atmosphere for JJ Bull was electric, buzzing and just exactly the sort of music that you didn’t know you needed – and what you never know you needed – till this moment. It was a nice warm up before a tour with Goldie Lookin Chain for Bull towards the end of the year, and of course; he’s playing in the Volley London for Scotland vs. Haiti at the opening game of the World Cup because would you expect him be anywhere else.