Olivia Jean released her third solo album Raving Ghost in May earlier this year. She has been since then touring to promote her new material and we got a chance to catch her on June 7th in Los Angeles for her sold out show at the Moroccan Lounge.
LA locals Velvet Starlings opened the show at 7pm sharp and were the perfect pick to get the crowd ready for Olivia Jean. Their 60’s psychedelic infused rock worked like a charm to mesmerize the audience. Songs like “Colours On The Canvas” or “She Said (She Said)” are an invitation to travel back in time. Frontman Christian Gisborne is 20 years old but his musical soul is a few decades older. The band offers a garage-flavored Jefferson Airplane rock, so to speak. The musicians, who are all part of other LA-based bands as well, were on-point. Christian’s raw guitar playing style has something of a young Jack White which is contrasted by the melodic flute and keyboards.
A few hours before the show, the band had released a new single “Bullfight” which is one of the best songs you’ll probably hear this year. The show was a great occasion to promote it, and the band closed their set with this song at 7:30. In a few words, Velvet Starlings brings a fresh, new, and perfectly balanced sound to the table. LA rock’s future is looking bright.
At 8pm, the lights turned purple and pink, which meant it was time for Olivia Jean and her band to get started. Olivia has been around for quite some time now, perfecting her sound and building her own universe. She has been combining gothics aesthetics and surf music since she formed The Black Belles in 2009 (currently in hiatus). She opened the show with “Ditch” from her new album which set the tone as it contains all the elements of Olivia’s music. The Surf guitar sound and riffs, the 60’s rock vibes, it was all there. A majority of the setlist came from “Raving Ghost” and was well received by the audience.
Marcus (drums) and Erica (bass) were incredibly in sync and maintained a steady background for the band to play on. Olivia is a known multi-instrumentalist but sticks to the guitar on stage, while Marco (guitar/keyboards) alternates instruments or plays both within the same song. A few times, the pace went down like for the gloomy “Spider”, which rendition was electrical or for “Godmother” and its nagging guitar riff. Olivia informed the crowd that it was Erica’s birthday and later dedicated “I Need You” to her.
Towards the end of the set Olivia played some older material like “Mistakes” and “Green Honeycreeper” from 2014 Bathtub Love Killings as well as some The Black Belles covers. Every single head was banging to the riffs coming out of the speakers. The band also played some unavoidable hits from 2019 Night Owl, like “Garage Bat” and “Night Owl”.
Throughout the rest of June, Olivia and her band will keep surfing up the West Coast and end this leg of the tour in Kansas City, MO. Olivia Jean has such a unique style and sound; she definitely sits at her own table at the modern rock banquet. Her live performances are a treat for the ears. If the Raving Ghost tour stops close to you, run, don’t walk, you wouldn’t want to miss out.
OLIVIA JEAN
VELVET STARLINGS
Photos + Review by Manuel Gay | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!