Jesse Malin With Very Special Guests Help Pull Off Courageous Comeback At Beacon Theatre (SHOW REVIEW)

The unofficial Mayor of the East Village, Jesse Malin has not played a show in a few years as he has put all of his efforts into recovering from a spinal stroke he suffered back in May 2023. By his own account the days have been dark, the recovery long, and painful, however tonight was the night he truly felt he had returned home, back onstage in his hometown. 

The first of two benefit shows for Malin was held on Sunday Night, December 1st, at the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which helped Malin during his continuing recovery, would receive the proceeds. The sold-out Sunday crowd came in from the frigid night air to fill up the classic theater as Michael Imperioli and Mary Louise Parker acted as MCs for the evening. 

Opening the benefit was Alejandro Escovedo, who began with a soft piano ballad, “Sensitive Boys,” which, like every guest’s song on the night, was dedicated to Malin and his unbreakable spirit. Parker mentioned it was nice to be in a room where everyone agreed on something before introducing Rickie Lee Jones with Don Dilego on supporting acoustic guitar. They sang a request from Jesse, her sad yet excellent song “Cycles.” 

After the moving opening two songs, the curtain dropped, and the house lights went on without a word. After a confusing few minutes when late arrivals could easily find their seats, Imperioli came out and introduced the man himself for a full set from Malin and his band. 

The curtain went up to a huge roar as Malin, seated center stage, began an hour and a half set of tunes from throughout his career. He told stories both humorous and heartfelt as he weaved tales of NYC and his life into his music and vice versa. The traveling tune “I Would Do It For You” began the set. The positive love and handclaps from the crowd propelled “Before You Go,” while the chugging acoustic riffs pushed “Oh Sheena.” 

“Route 13” used echoey guitars and organs as Malin issued the first of many heartfelt thank yous to all the friends and families in the crowd. He told stories of sneaking into the Beacon in the past to see bands like The Pogues, with Joe Strummer fronting them, before covering “If I Should Fall From The Grace of God” complete with horns. Malin recalled his childhood in Manhattan, his ties to the punk and hardcore scenes, and channeling that into his new song “Argentina,” which talks of his recent trials.    

Steven Van Zandt came out to a big cheer helping out on guitar for “Turn Up The Mains” but the complete deafening ovation of the night came next as Malin, under his own power, stood up, preparing to sing “She Don’t Love Me Now” as the crowd exploded. 

Malin thanked his doctors, nurses, physical therapists and friends who were all involved in his recovery, cracked jokes about practicing backflips to be like HR from the Bad Brains someday, while both sitting and standing for the remainder of the set which included the ominously grooving “The Way We Used To Roll” and the solo acoustic “Aftermath”. 

A theatrically rising cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Sway” was dynamic, as was the glam-tinged, set-closing “Meet Me At The End of The World,” which wrapped up with the second biggest cheer of the night as Malin walked off the stage using a walker to a thunderous ovation.   

More guests arrived quickly to play a song from the recently released triple benefit/tribute album Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin or requests from Jesse himself. J Mascis was up first with “Brooklyn,” deploying a ripping guitar solo while Danny Clinch sang and added harmonica to “Almost Grown”. The energy ramped up for both Jakob Dylan covering “Don’t Let Them Take You Down” and Butch Walker’s energetic rendition of “In The Modern World”. While shows like this always have minor technical issues, things ran very smoothly, but hopefully, the lights are fixed for the second show as these guests were singing in the dark with the spotlight still fixed on Malin’s (now empty) chair in the center stage. 

Adam Duritz took the stage, along with his bandmate guitarist David Immerglück  (who helped out the backing band all night), and humorously said that Jesse stole his song from the tribute album. So Malin requested he play “A Long December,” which was well received before Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams dueted on a pretty cover of “Wild Horses.” 

Malin walked back onstage and led a full band rave-up of The Ramones’ “Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?” which was a gas, combining surf rock horns, revved-up guitars, and crashing drums. The softer “Greener Pastures” followed as Malin dueted with Diane Gentile before the full band excitement of both “You Know It’s Dark When Atheists Start to Pray” and the event closing cover of The Clash‘s “Rudie Can’t Fail” with Costello, Williams and more joining for the finale. 

A night of positive vibes for a good cause brought out old punks, aging rockers, doctors, nurses and just friends of one of the most important members to ever grace the New York City rock scene. Everyone has a Jesse Malin story if you have been involved in music in NYC over the last forty years, and giving back to the man himself, who is fighting so hard to make this night (and hopefully many more) happen, is a true joy.