Young Brit Gives Bowery Crowd Mix-Tapes
Young girls made up the bulk of the crowd directly in front of the stage. They spoke of how cute the young singer is, and one girl told me that shes gonna jump up on stage and kiss him (which never did happen). This sort of teen pop fanaticism is unusual for a place like Bowery Ballroom, and this was just Jaimie T performing. Whos Jaimie T, you ask? Exactly. America has yet to be swept away by this new young English sensation, but give it time and youll be hearing his name more and more. The 21 year-old singer/songwriter just recently won Best Solo Artist at the 2007 Shockwave NME Awards, beating out beloved Brits Jarvis Cocker and Thom Yorke. Spitting out lyrics in a style the immediately draws comparisons to The Streets Mike Skinner and Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner, Jamie T had the young crowd singing along with every word. Oddly enough, nearly all of those voices in the crowd were echoing Jamies lyrics in their own English accent, as much of the crowd seemed to be from England. Backed by his band The Pacemakers, Jamie Ts performance had a few highlights, including Salvador and Calm Down Dearest, but it was the hit Sheila that really made the crowd go nuts. Right before playing his biggest hit, Jamie T asked the crowd who would like a special mix-tape of some of his bands favorite music. Of course, the rabid fans went nuts, with everyone trying to get hold of one of these tapes. A bunch of tapes were handed out, and then the band began playing Sheila, while tapes flew from the stage out to the crowd. And they werent just softly tossing these tapes, they were really flying. After the craziness Jamie asked the exact question I had in my mind, how many of you actually still have tape players. Tape players or not, everyone at Bowery Ballroom seemed to have a really great time under the influence of Jamie Ts catchy rock and British charm.
You can catch Jamie T perform solo at 6pm tonight at Soundfix Records (110 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn). And it's free, so you can use the money you save to buy the cd.
Photos courtesy of [Jonny-Leather]