The Jam Reunite - But Without Weller!

Maybe Sunday morning is not the best time to go see a hard drinking brit like Paul Weller and Virgin Megastore is definitely not the right setting for the lad from Woking...but word had it he was going to play Jam songs. Alas, there was one, "Shopping", the rather obscure B-side of the band's last single, "Beat Surrender". For the rest, Mr. Weller played mostly stuff from his solo years, the contractually guaranteed 30 minutes, then the grey haired bard left without further ado and certainly without encore. What abummer. His three night stint at Irving Plaza, announced as a Jam eve, a Style council night and a Weller solo show, was totally sold out weeks ahead, but we got in for a couple of songs on Monday, which was supposed to be the Jam night, anyway. The audience got to hear Jam beauties such as "Tale from the Riverbank," "Man in the Corner Shop" and "Thick as Thieves" and sang along louder than the Modfather. But a slight diappointment here, too: It wasn't an all-Jam set, he put in quite a few Weller solo songs. Well, you can't play the songs you wrote when you were twenty all your life, can you? Seems some can: With the new release of old Jam songs and the growing interest in the famed London band, the two other members are tired of being left out: Bass player Bruce Foxton and drummer Rick Buckler decided to reform the band, albeit without Paul, who has never spoken to the two since he split the band back in 1982. Buckler and Foxton never really got over it. They wrote a revealing bio ("The Jam - Our Story") about their days in the band. Foxton told me that he still sends Weller x-mas cards every year, and never got a single reply. Buckler, who started a Jam cover band called 'The Gift' in 2005 says he is convinced, the project will work without Paul. "It's not just a gift to Bruce and me, but to all Jam fans," Buckler says. Below, you can check out what they sound like without the Wellah.