Chris Jagger
Sunday, 23 Apr. 2023, from 8 p.m. onwards
Izola / Hangar bar / Slovenia
Chris Jagger, the younger brother of the musician known to at least the entire solar galaxy, is his famous sibling’s polar opposite. He’s a living reflection of what Mick might have been, had the relentless machinery of the music industry and fame not completely remade him. That was a long time ago. The rest is history. Funnily enough — paradoxically, even — the fact remains that Chris is best known for being Mick’s brother. So here it’s not artistry that counts, but some other fact entirely. And given that Chris’s artistry is of genuinely high quality, the whole thing feels like a kind of eternal curse hovering over him. It’s simply proof that justice is an illusion. Those who pay more wield it in such a way that it never actually materializes.
Chris Jagger belongs to a musical family — there’s no doubt about that. The facts speak for themselves. Creative, original. Everything holds up. Everything moves in the musical fields from which both of them emerged. Chris and Mick. That’s undeniable, and it means Chris regularly delivers something that could easily be labeled the best single The Rolling Stones forgot to write.
(At least the outward) humility of Chris is so all-encompassing you could slice it into thick chunks of bread. When the man turns up in front of you dressed like one of Kersnik’s bandits but with an Indian ceremonial scarf around his neck, everything falls into place. He released his new studio album “Mixing Up The Medicine” back in September 2021 — right at the height of lockdown. Spring 2023. The road leads him back to Slovenia and the nearby hinterland just beyond our official national borders. Vrba na Koroškem, Domžale, Milje, Izola, and finally Ilirska Bistrica. Chris remains an ace at dodging the neon lights.
It’s just before seven in the evening — or let’s call it ‘coming up on dusk’. The first round of Pelicon hits the table. Where? At the Hangar bar in Izola. Right in the middle of a sip of the popular craft beer — sadly not cheap — a familiar face appears. Chris. Full beard and all. Behind him, the members of the backing band slip into the venue, led by violinist Elliet MacKrell (Blue Midnight, Chris Jagger’s Acoustic Roots, Kangaroo Moon, The Wise Monkeys), joined of course by drummer Paul Atkinson (Bees Make Honey, Juice On The Loose, Mickey Jupp Band) and Chris’s son and second guitarist Jon Byron Jagger. Yes. You read that right. A lineup without a bassist. The band had just come to check out the venue — waiting on the drums to arrive. The quartet settled in, everyone reached for a drink, and in their own way made themselves at home in the Hangar. There were maybe a dozen people in the place at the time, most of them paying far more attention to the contents of their ever-draining glasses than to the presence of a musical legend.
Glasses up or down, eight o’clock arrives and so do the drums. The quartet sets everything up DIY-style for the show, which kicked off with a short delay — but still. Chris politely apologized to the audience for it. The tall, solid 75-year-old had been wandering around the venue beforehand in true English fashion. Cup of tea in hand — which remained his faithful companion later on. On stage.
The band fired things off with the current (hit?) single Anyone Seen My Heart? — in strict rock fashion. Chris, modified semi-acoustic Telecaster in hand, fronting the vocals and occasionally reaching for the harmonica, takes center stage and never stops entertaining with wry comments between songs, all rooted in the finest tradition of British dark humor.
This time around, the man built the tour around putting rock front and center. But within that core, the genres of folk, reggae (Lazy Days), country (Heading Down to Santander (Let the Wind Blow in Your Hair), Allons Joujette, Priosner of Your Heart) and of course the all-encompassing blues traded playful dialogue — and with the family name Jagger attached, the blues simply cannot be absent from Chris’s original material.
There’s no shortage of playfulness. Or ease, or lucidity, or not least a certain childlike quality to it all. You’ve probably guessed as much yourselves — Chris and the crew are well used to it. He’s a club act, after all. But still. It was a little sad watching the seats gradually fill during his set. Seats — meaning tables. At the peak of the evening there were maybe 60 to 70 people there. I say maybe, with the two nearest punters sitting at the table closest to the stage and, despite Chris’s coaxing for people to move up front, there was no real response. Just polite applause. Toward the end, an older couple finally plucked up the courage and danced in front of the stage. Chris wasn’t left cold either, and between songs delivered the line: “In the old days people used to come to the front to dance; now they come up with smartphones.”
And the band? Paul’s kit came apart twice during the show. The techs sorted it. A few unexpected rough edges — though on that note, special praise must go to Elliet MacKrell, who brought the most grounded presence to the evening and with her talents kept the whole thing together. The guys loosened up a little too much at moments. Chris’s great family hope Jon also got his slot. Chris sent him off to go fishing, and Jon played his own piece Gone Fishing (I hope I caught the title right). But the kid still has some miles to put on the clock. A few passages weren’t clean.
The concert was split into two parts. The band gave generous coverage to Chris’s latest album “Mixing Up The Medicine”, serving up: Love’s Around the Corner, Talking to Myself, Happy as a Lamb and A Love Like This. There was Baby Is Blue, where Chris tested his harmonica for the first time. In the second half, the band also reached for something more delicate when they tackled the folk-tinged Snow On The Mountain. The set also included the playful Allons Joujette, and Funky Man early in the show. The evening brought the tongue-in-cheek Too Much Love Can Kill A Man, the melancholic Junkman, the fun rock ‘n’ roll and zydeco mashup Blow The Zydeco, the rollicking On The Road, …
Bottom line: seeing Chris Jagger live is a must. At least once in your life. Not just so you can say “well, if I couldn’t get a selfie with Mick, I at least got one with Chris” — but for the sheer musical substance the man and his crew bring to the table. His voice is every bit as piercing as Mick’s. If you can’t spot the family resemblance in their faces, you’ll definitely hear it in their voices. There’s no hiding it. A genuinely fun, playful show that radiated not just professionalism but tremendous ease, seasoned with Chris’s vivid sense of humor — it’s hard to walk away unmoved. Original compositions woven from the genres of recent musical history (rock ‘n’ roll, blues, zydeco, country, folk, even reggae) become their own story in the hands of this unique musician and his company — one that only Chris and his contemporaries can bring to life with real credibility. The kind of concert experience that’s becoming increasingly rare these days, and all the more worth cherishing for it. Let’s not even get started on just how down-to-earth and approachable the man is. Here’s hoping he and the crew make it back to Slovenia again.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Edita Klemen
