Jukebox the Ghost: 16 January 2009 – Stamford, CT, Rack ‘n’ Roll

After being postponed a week due to snow, the NEXT Music Charity Concert Series at Rack ‘n’ Roll in Stamford kicked off January 16th with a performance by Jukebox the Ghost. While the name Jukebox the Ghost doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, the trio’s infectious songs got the patrons grooving whether they came to see the band or were just shooting pool. Having been likened to Ben Folds, Jukebox perform a similarly fun piano-driven indie-pop that gets fans enthusiastically clapping and dancing along to but with more nuanced lyrics. The D.C. based band even contains a Ben, the lead singer Ben Thornewill on piano, as well as Jesse Kristin on drums, and Tommy Siegel on guitar.

After Chris Bro, of 107.1 The Peak, introduced the concert series to support Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Jukebox the Ghost took the stage encouraging the mixed audience to draw closer. Several girls, who seemed a bit too young to be in a bar, appeared loyal fans of the band (or perhaps of boys in a band). And then there were folks intrigued by the sounds of the warm-up piano-tinkling who pulled away from their game of billiards to listen. Jukebox performed several songs off their album Let Live and Let Ghosts, as well as a couple of new ones. The second song, “Hold it In”, got people clapping along to the particularly catchy piano melody punctuated by Ben’s “whooo”-ing. “Victoria”, which could lyrically hint at a Ben Folds song due to inclusion of the word ‘bitch’, had even more people shaking to its drum stomp sound.

Before the encore new song of “Nobody”, Jukebox dove into an enjoyable rendition of The Beatles’ “Golden Slumber/Carry that Weight/The End” with its broad familiarity appealing to a good many more. This Ben and the band engaged the crowd all night, cracked jokes with each other, noted the irony that they had only one song about a ghost (and home foreclosures) and gave a spirited little shout for Obama. When comparing the studio tracks to the performance, the lively concert from Jukebox the Ghost is much more satisfying. With their admirable spirit, Jukebox’s first show of 2009 earned them many new fans; they have an auspicious future ahead.