Jon Spencer show at The Hope & Ruin, Brighton, UK on 24 May 2026.
nb. Last minute secret show announced on 23 May 2026.
Line-up:
Jon Spencer
Spider Bowman
Kendall Wind
Sound: JJ Gregory
Live Photo: Jeff Pitcher (https://www.instagram.com/pitcher_post/)
“Word was – better even than Friday’s Piper show – and that takes some beating – Spencer at his most gloriously feral: all sharp edges, sweat, feedback, politics and attitude, packed into the low dripping ceiling chaos of the Hope & Ruin like it was 1994 and nobody had quite learned to behave yet.
The Spencer/Kendall/Spider trio aren’t easing into anything – pure live combustion. Songs arrive like dirty switchblades – short, brutal, impossible to ignore – each one kicked into life by Spencer’s preacher-from-Mars bark and held together by a rhythm section that sounded like a NY subway train trying to derail in perfect time.
And that’s the thing about Spencer: even now, decades into a career built on noise, nerve, verve and no small amount of beautiful arrogance, he still performs like he’s got something to prove.
In a venue this intimate every scrape of pick, every amp crackle, every barked “yeah!” felt personal – the holy racket, the absurdity, the sheer dumb elegance of guitars played by people who know exactly how dangerous they should sound.
For nearly ninety ecstatic minutes Hope & Ruin became the centre of the known rock’n’roll universe.” – Jeff Pitcher
PARTIAL SET LIST:
Fan Fare (Another Point of View)
Bellbottoms
Knock ‘Em Out
Vermin Attack
Disconnected
Talk About The Blues
Jon / Kendall / Spider Show #179
