We Dare Defend our Rights | Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires Live Review | Burro Bar Jacksonville, FL | October 31, 2015

by • November 24, 2015

Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires played downtown Jacksonville the night of the Florida-Georgia game. We could hardly hope for a more fitting bill. The duality of the Southern thing is annually on display at the world’s largest cocktail party, and Lee Bains III’s incredible brand of ass-kicking, self-aware, intelligent Southern Rock was the ideal punctuation on that celebration.

Florida-Georgia exemplifies The South’s great paradoxes. Young, mostly-black kids playing a modern day gladiatorial contest for the enjoyment of a largely white crowd.

Granted, those kids are also receiving a free education at respected institutions and are treated like demigods in the process. Things are never so easy as they appear on the surface. Lee Bains III’s sound will absolutely waylay the listener, but like SEC football, Bains and the boys may at first appear brutal. A closer examination reveals a catalog of songs that explores the fire that rages in the belly of the Southern man–the types of tunes that inspire fan devotion.

Old pappy, can you hear it?
On the soft Southern breeze
There’s hollering in the streets
We dare defend our rights.”

The “pappy” of “We Dare Defend our Rights” is the white establishment. Those rights? The struggle of black Americans. An enduring legacy of slavery and Jim Crow. These are the lyrics that you typically ask to be crooned slowly by an acoustic guitar. Do not expect Bains to oblige. A cacophony of screaming guitars often obscures Lee Bains’ poignant lyrics, requiring the listener to stay on point while being both rocked and pushed intellectually.

Jacksonville’s racial clusterfuck has not received the attention of St. Louis or Baltimore, but just because our cops haven’t shot a black male in cold blood (recently), does not mean that our beautiful river oasis enjoys a harmonious exchange of ideas between people of all stripes who put a premium on the dignity of the individual.

Consequently, a song whose lyrics read like a Joan Baez tune has as much significance now as in 1963. Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires is a fearless band of freedom fighters that acknowledges the dirty bits of the South while exemplifying its more desirable traits–creativity, passion, and damn fine storytelling.

We got all of the above from Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires Saturday night. Drained from hours in the sun, reveling and cheering on the Gators, we willed ourselves to stay up for the midnight set. Lee repaid our grit with an fiery show that saw him on his knees in front of the amplifier, backing down off the stage into the crowd, and sharing a microphone with bassist Adam Williamson.

Five bands shared the bill, and all were worth the time. The experience was special because Lee Bains III had already won the crowd by the time he and the Glory Fires took the stage for their midnight set. Lee was there the whole night, playing a bit of air guitar, looking around for friends to commiserate with in the celebration of lesser known, fantastic acts that played throughout the night.

He is an intimately accessible rockstar. Grateful for our presence, regardless of the fact that we were there to cover the show. The night opened itself up for repeated interactions between Lee and the other actors involved–both fans and fellow musicians.

Not five minutes into a conversation I initiated early in the night, he made the same analogy about gladiatorial combat that you read earlier in this piece. The paragraphs above were written months ago in anticipation of this show. Lee could not possibly have known about the piece I was writing. No one had seen it. Some things are just kindred for like-minded folks. The gladiator analogy is not a brand new idea, but it is certainly galvanizing.

For many of us, the social problems our communities face keep us up at night, driving us to drink, write, or both. For Lee it comes out passionately on stage as much as in conversation.lee bains iii live review

The downtown Jacksonville bar his excellent band played sits on the physical border of the haves and have-nots. It’s a smoky place, the kind that has good beer, and welcomes people of all paths. The guy sitting a table over may be homeless, a successful attorney, or a barista who could be either if he pointed his energy in that direction.

Lee’s not likely to be any of the above. Poet, singer, gentleman, philosopher, fan–Lee is all of those. Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires is a group of talented individuals doing exactly what they oughta–kick ass, monumentally important rock n’ roll.

Kids are not likely to stop playing football any time soon. And perhaps they should not. The Bible Belt’s complications cannot be reduced to bromides and platitudes. Nor can Southern Rock. To call Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires a Southern Rock band would be accurate, yet limiting. 

More appropriately, they are ambassadors bridging the gap between punk and folk, sports and music, The South and the rest of the country. Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires set Jax ablaze after Florida-Georgia. Hear their message and marinate on it a spell. You may love it. You’ll most certainly come away a better person.

 Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires Live Review & Photos by Jason Earle, edited by Matthew Weller.

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lee bains iii live review

lee bains iii live review

lee bains iii live review

lee bains iii live review

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