Friends of Jerry
with Medukha
A Grateful Dead cover band wouldn’t ordinarily get me out of the house, but a friend invited me, and the list of shows I’ve been to this year is depressingly short, so off I went. And I’m glad I did! I enjoy seeing something requiring a high level of skill done with a high level of competence, and so much the better if it’s in a passion-project capacity and an intimate environment like Ukie Club. Friends of Jerry played for over two hours (we only stayed for the first set), and had done the same with a different set list the night before. I don’t know how many bands with day jobs have over four hours of live material ready to go on a given weekend, so yeah, I was impressed, even if said material was decidedly not my thing.
Medukha had a bit of a rough night with a recurring feedback issue, and the whole set was a touch ramshackle for my liking. It appears the core of the band is two singers, one outfitted with an accordion and effects, the other with a guitar, and they have a rotating roster of musicians joining them (drums, trombone, and flute, in this case) on loosely improvisational, post-metal-tinged Ukranian and Polish traditional tunes. It didn’t really come together for me, but I’m always rooting for anyone operating in an eastern European folk milieu, so I’ll be keeping an eye on them.