CityLife

Jet

IF ever a band were made for playing at The Ritz it was Jet.

The foot-tapping no-nonsense Aussie rockers had hundreds bouncing off the club’s famous spring loaded dancefloor on a steamy Thursday.

Clearly enjoying the weight of expectation lifted from their shoulders at the tiny venue they provided a faultless 80 minutes packed with back catalogue hits and offerings from new album Shaka Rock.

They even brought along a session keyboard player for the ride.

It was an interesting one this. In 2003 the Melbourne four-piece exploded onto the scene with debut album Get Born shifting around 3.5m copies.

Hit single Are You Gonna Be My Girl catapulted them into a limelight you got the impression they were not entirely comfortable with.

Follow up Shine On struggled to match that success and Shaka Rock was keenly anticipated, to say the least.

Loaded with swipes at the fame industry it reflects a the original rollercoaster ride with the band’s trademark guitar heavy rock and roll.

Epic feature

Standouts from that debut were (unsurprisingly) an epic feature length performance of ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’.

But the highlight was Look What You’ve Done.

“It’s Manchester so we know you’ll sing along’, said lead singer Nic Cester. He wasn’t wrong.

From the new album Goodbye Hollywood, an autobiographical pop at Tall Poppy Syndrome, was given a rapturous welcome.

And new single She’s A Genius (“It’s nice to see one the girls sing along to,”) went down a storm.

Fortunately the substandard Beat On Repeat stayed in the locker

There was, fittingly, a tribute to former touring buddies Oasis (‘It was s*** them splitting up wasn’t it?”), with Holiday and beer bottles raised into the air.

And by the time the final chords of Get Me Outta Here echoed round the old place it was clear that these boys are more than happy with where they find themselves.

It wasn’t the M.E.N. Arena, it wasn’t even the Apollo, but for one night only it was home.

Tweet