:: Jet / The Stands at the Forum Theatre, Melbourne - April 04

By: Carmine Pascuzzi

This had been an eagerly anticipated gig for many people in Melbourne. The Forum Theatre was a great setting for Melbourne rock band Jet to place their standing on a higher pedestal and in the elite of Australian live performers. An added bonus beforehand came with a couple of handy support bands.

Unfortunately, I was too late in arriving to see up-and-coming Cannon with their short set to open the night. UK band The Stands were a pleasant surprise as the main support. Hailing from Liverpool, they showed that old Liverpool magic of harmonies and melodies hadn’t dissipated from the glory days of the 1960s. They are a standout amongst the new British musicians of today and, signed through Liberation Music in Australia, expect to hear much excellent music from these lads.

Nic Cester led Jet out to rip into “Get What You Want”, albeit with a slight lower volume than expected. Things settled down after a couple of songs and some of the crowd got involved quickly and the band set about their giving fans a taste of their terrific “Get Born” album songs. “Rollover DJ”, “Take It Or Leave It”, and “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” led the popularity stakes and the mostly-full audience were stomping along to the rock force. The teenagers were having a good time idolising these new rock heroes. It’s been a revelation to see this band captivate many young musical punters with a fresh-sounding performance of their various influences. A couple of new songs were thrown in, so not to simply make this “Get Born Live”. They didn’t give it the full-throttled bounce and energy, more controlled musicianship where you could stand and study their performance, rather than be totally plunged into their web. The encore was something to savour as the band opened up more in delivering to the expectant crowd.

Jet is amassing strong attention around the western world and their energy and songwriting strength is again helping to bring Australian music to attention. They may have reserved some of the energy and sharpness for their upcoming overseas tour but the songs are well flavoured and musicianship generally precise. It’s great to see them do well and, in this big stage, they stepped up to the bigger plate with confidence and acquitted themselves well.