Of The Honorary Title
Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
1 March 2010
Review by Meghan Kearney
PORTLAND, OR - "Jarrod Gorbel solo. Wooooooooooo wassup." was how Jarrod Gorbel satirically introduced himself to the crowd at Mississippi Studios. |
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On Monday, March 1st Jarrod Gorbel, front man of The Honorary Title kicked off a solo tour in support of his new EP Ten Years Older. With the tour’s first show at Portland Oregon’s Mississippi Studios a relaxed crowed filled up the rows of chairs lined in front of the stage. A calm feel in the air and entire seated audience made for more of a private acoustic set than a true show.
 Jarrod spent seventy percent of his time playing tunes and the other thirty performing an involuntary stand up comedy routine. In between telling stories of his family through over exaggerated New York accents and cracking sarcastic low blows about the success of The Honorary Title, Jarrod’s smooth and appeasing voice set the mood. |
He opened his set with a new untitled song about a lack of love and passion in life. The following few songs were solo ones from the new EP. With a blinding glare bouncing of his shiny acoustic Jarrod belted through the deep vocaled “How Long” softly transitioning into “Optimism.” Next the familiar opening chords of MGMT’s “Time to Pretend” sent a chuckle and cheer through the crowd. “I connected with this song” Jarrod joked as he then transitioned into Phoenix’s “Lisztomania.” He finished off the Ten Years Older set with “I’ll Do Better.”After making some more jokes about The Honorary Title we got to hear the funny reenactment of his parents asking him about his music: “We haven’t had a One Tree Hill in years, do we need to send you back to school?” Jarrod then began to take requests from the audience. Random voices yelled out from the small room requesting all of the best Honorary Title songs. Jarrod decided to go with “Reveling Too Much.” With a slight mishap on the opening he had the audience belly laughing along with him as he struggled to gain back his composure through the collective laughter. After spot on performances of “Far More” and “Snow” Jarrod performed another goof ball of a cover with Rhianna’s “Umbrella.” Keeping a straight face until the very end he turned the overplayed top 40 hit into a little ball of emo. Again, the crowd’s laughter was unstoppable. With more requests from the crowd the set finished up including “On the Way” and “Cut Short.” As Jarrod finished up the last few notes, he awkwardly walked off the stage giggling and headed to his merch table. The evening was a success, as the small crowd spent their Monday night with a private and intimate Jarrod/Honorary Title listening party. |
JARROD ON MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/jarrodgorbelmusic