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Review: Emma Whitelaw
Caught live at Brixton Academy (May 26, 2004)
BEING born a true blue myself, I can say with authority that
there are two common misconceptions about the land Down Under.
Firstly, it's that we all drink Fosters; and, secondly, is that
Australia’s latest rock export, Jet, are one-hit wonders.
In their biggest headline show to date, Jet powered through a
head-banging set at Brixton Academy on Wednesday night.
After an electric performance by support act, Young Heart Attack,
the lights dimmed and a jazzy version of Are You Gonna Be My
Girl filtered through the speakers, subtly reminding the audience
as to why we were there; to not only hear the song that is just
about everywhere at the moment, but to have a damn good laugh
about it, too!
Since the release of their gold-certified debut album, Get Born,
back in September last year, Jet have quite literally soared into
the charts and the hearts of many a fan.
Their hugely successful track Are You Gonna Be My Girl
won the coveted number 1 spot on Aussie radio station, Triple
J’s 2003 Hottest 100, an annual phone vote for listeners
to decide the single of the year.
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Quite a remarkable achievement for a virtually unknown act, this
was a surefire indication that these young, shaggy-haired lads,
from Melbourne, were destined for great things.
Jet are far from one-hit wonders and they certainly had no trouble
proving this as they took to the stage with rocking tracks like,
Get What You Need, Rollover DJ and Look What You’ve
Done.
Frontman, Nic Cester, was every bit the rock star in a retro
red cowboy-style shirt that suited the flavour of things to come.
Country ballads through to hair thrashing AC/DC-like guitar
tracks, Jet showcased almost all of the songs on their album.
In a surprisingly un-cheesy move they didn’t leave their
No. 1 until last.
Instead, they broke into the tambourine shaking opening relatively
early in the set.
Making light of what they knew a lot of punters had come to
see, they replaced chorus lyrics 'Are Gonna Be My Girl'
with 'Are You Gonna Make Some Fucking Noise'?
Having been quoted as saying 'credibility is one thing, farting
is another, and this is just a band farting off, it’s not
about music', Jet are a band that obviously don’t take themselves,
or their songs, too seriously.
Hence, by doing so, in an amazingly short space of time, they’ve
shown their Aussie-rock-God predecessors that it isn’t always
'a long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll'.
Jet’s whirlwind rise to fame is far from over people!
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