LIVE: The Constellations @ Jillian’s, 2/21/11

Like some wild mash-up of Root Boy Slim and the young Tom Waits, Elijah Jones led the Atlanta-based party band the Constellations in concert at Jillian’s in Albany last Monday before a rather small but totally frenzied crowd of fans who kept the dance floor hopping.

He sang; he rapped; he howled.

He beat on the bongos.

But mostly he played the part of ringmaster, as the Constellations romped through a super-charged, psychedelic Ringling Brothers circus of a rock ‘n’ funk show.

Most of the tunes were culled from the band’s debut album, “Southern Gothic,” which was released last June, about a month after they made their Nippertown debut at last year’s Albany Tulip Festival.

By now, they were fine-tuned, but still as loosey-goosey as could be. Running the gamut from the sacred to the profane, the glorious, gospelfied “On My Way Up” to the lurid “Felicia.”

Best of all was the frenetic but always-in-the-pocket show-closer, “Step Right Up.” The total free-for-all spilled off the stage and into the crowd, as Jones spun late-night tales of debauchery on the Atlanta underground rock scene.

Alta Mira and Northern Water Snake opened the show.

Photographs of the Constellations by Andrzej Pilarczyk
Photographs of Alta Mira and Northern Water Snake by Timothy Reidy

THE CONSTELLATIONS SET LIST
Setback
Perfect Day
Weighing Me Down
We’re Here to Save the Day
What I See
Take a Ride
Let’s Dance (David Bowie)
Stand Up
December
Love Is a Murder
On My Way Up
Felicia
Step Right Up
ENCORE
Waiting for My Man (Velvet Underground)