Review: AGE OF MADNESS Gives City Winery Rock And Roll Realness

Just before the band AGE OF MADNESS began their first number during their July 17th City Winery concert, Jeremy Jordan stepped up to the microphone and said, “Jeremy Jordan has died, and in his place has risen Age Of Madness.”  It was a maudlin, perhaps even morbid, way to begin a concert of any nature, but it isn’t difficult to understand why the Tony Award nominee did that.  Jeremy Jordan is singing rock and roll now.  And he isn’t singing soft rock, he is singing real, authentic, honest-to-goodness rock and roll, which is a far cry from Jack Kelly, and there is a certain wholesome image from which Jeremy Jordan is, perhaps, hoping to break free, at least for the duration of one of his rock shows.  It isn’t his fault that people see him so wholesome because actors are beggars - they have to take jobs, they  have to work, and because of the need for and lack of (enough) work to go around, you have to ride the train that’s willing to take you.  Jeremy Jordan has a good thing going with musical theater, and he had a good thing going with Supergirl… but musical theater and DC Comics do lean into the wholesome.  And so, for the benefit of a rock and roll concert, the Jeremy Jordan that everyone knows and loves sort of has to “die” a little.

Or maybe he doesn’t.

Nobody is just one thing.  No artist has just one genre.  There is no reason to judge Age Of Madness on Jeremy Jordan’s past, even though Age Of Madness needs Jeremy’s fame from his past work to build a foundational fanbase.  That’s why the advertising for Age Of Madness has to include Jeremy Jordan’s name.  This is a new rock band and had they launched without the benefit of the Jordan name, they might just as well have ended their trajectory on the vine.  But Jeremy Jordan has legions of fans and those fans will follow him to the stages of Broadway, regional theater, nightclubs, and, now, rock and roll arenas.  So, for at least a while, Age Of Madness will need the Jeremy Jordan name to sell tickets.  But (and this is a big but) … Age Of Madness should stand on its own.  Jeremy Jordan doesn’t need to “die” in order for Age Of Madness to grow.  The band is good enough to speak for itself.  What Jeremy Jordan and his co-creators Sarah Charness (she of the electric violin) and Mikael (the man with the electric guitar) have built here is right and proper rock music.  The threesome (along with different musicians who gig in for various shows, as this cast was different from their Sony Hall show in 2022) is working off of rock and roll sounds that honor the genre, the bands that have come before them, and the ones working alongside them in today’s industry.  Their original compositions are laden with poetry and protest, and loaded with visceral emotions and visual imagery.  The three leaders of the band have done their homework at the drafting table and then taken their work ethic into the rehearsal hall (and recording studio) so that they can present their audiences with a professional finished product, including a verbal disclaimer from frontman Jordan urging people that “This is a rock and roll show” and that everyone should feel free to behave like they are at a rock and roll show, doing anything they, so, desire.  At City Winery on Monday night, what the audience desired was to sit and watch (and film) the show.

I never know where a club will seat me, when I walk in the door.  Sometimes I have the best seat in the house, and others, I am seated behind a pole (no, really, it happens) but on Monday night I was placed in the balcony at City Winery with permission to roam about, taking photos, if I should like.  That view from the balcony and that permission to roam told me a lot about the Age Of Madness fans.  From balcony right I could look down on a rapt audience, content to sit still in their seats, watching the electrifying physicality of Sarah and the exciting expertise of Mikael, as they bounded about the stage, making musical magic.  Zach Okonkwo on the drums and Jordan Steinberg on bass added immeasurably to the energy in the air and the fullness of the sounds of the band.  And there, center stage, like an electrical ground, stood Jeremy Jordan, the hub of the wheel in motion for a satisfying night of rock and roll.  And as this witness with a lens walked the hall of City Winery, one of the things that stood out was the widespread quality of the audience demographic.  There were people of a younger set laser focused on the action, yet there were also mothers and grandmothers chair dancing and clapping along.  There were those who looked like roadies waiting in the wings, and there were others who may, well, have come straight from the office without a chance to change out of their suits.  Anywhere you looked, you might see a different person from the fabric of New York City, come to hear Age Of Madness play some of the songs from their latest album, or perhaps something they had heard on social media postings or at the New York City debut of Age Of Madness.  That debut, by the way, is another interesting thing to note about Age Of Madness: they know how to read a room.

Sony Hall is a big splashy venue, with lots of lighting and lots of tech.  And when Age Of Madness played the club back in September, it was double stacked with a rock concert vibe, with a dance floor crowded up against the stage, full of people shaking their groove thang and trying to get right up close to the action.  City Winery is a different vibe, more laid back, more easy going, and even though the music was the same, the presentation was more relaxed, with Jeremy chatting with the crowd, getting to know the people in the front row, asking everyone if they were having fun, explaining their “Tea Time” format (three slow songs, back to back, bookended by the hard driving, electrified rock tunes), and laughing along with everyone when he made mistakes in the evening trajectory (like going to Tea Time early by skipping over a number).  That versatility in presentation based on venue will serve Age Of Madness in their future.

And Age Of Madness should have a bright future because the band is good, rock experts might even say really good.  Their ability to, and focus upon, grow(ing) their brand and expanding their reach should prove just how good they are.  It should also prove that we aren’t just one thing.  We aren’t just a musical theater performer or a film and television actor; we can be any and every kind of artist we, so, wish.  We can be a rock star, we can be released from the chains of our other forms of artistic expression, so that we can explore and be accepted as more, without having to “die” or even express an imaginative narrative in which we have.  We are, all of us, to be embraced in all our beautiful artistry and humanity.  Age Of Madness is welcome, with or without the name Jeremy Jordan in front of it.  Age Of Madness deserves to stand on its own three words.

Visit the AGE OF MADNESS Linktree HERE.

Find shows to see on the City Winery website HERE.

Read the review of the AGE OF MADNESS Sony Hall show HERE.

Read the review of the AGE OF MADNESS album Mercy HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

 

 

 

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