Recording: Jennifer Castle

Artist: Jennifer Castle

Songs: Full Moon in Leo + Piece of Glass + Fractal Canyon

Recorded at The Garrison, July 25, 2026.

Jennifer Castle - Full Moon in Leo

Jennifer Castle - Piece of Glass

Jennifer Castle - Fractal Canyon

It remains an object of complete incomprehensibility to one such as myself how folks could put down good money for a concert ticket, and then treat said concert as a place to have full-on conversations while the show is in progress in front of them. Gracing the city with this tune-up show before heading off for some festival dates, the first half-hour or so of this show was something of a write-off with the band competing in vain with a room full of people talking. It was only after some blessed soul took matters into their own hands and loudly told the room between songs to shut the hell up that the crowd seemed to realize there was a frickin' Jen Castle show going on in front of them and toned it down to a more suitable level.

That unpleasantness notwithstanding, this was a chance to see Castle interpret the songs of last year's excellent Camelot, as well and ranging through her substantial catalog. It turned out to be a fully-committed set, running about an hour and three-quarters, so there was a lot of ground covered, including a bring-it-all-down solo portion. Unsurprisingly, Castle came large with a stupendous band, with drummer Jay Anderson and guitarist Paul Mortimer anchoring things. Johnny Spence and Edwin de Goeij shared an interesting tag-team approach, swapping back and forth on bass and keyboards, while up front Vic Cheong and Isla Craig filled out the vocals. Having missed a few winter solstices now, I was glad to hear the newer material from such a crew (and also to hear some ace reinterpretations, such as a tough-as-nails/Fleetwood Mac-ified take on "Piece of Glass", a song that Castle has been rearranging for quite some time now.)