Thursday night, I leave my hotel room in the heart of Adelaide 7pm ready to get in early, doors open at 7:30pm and I don’t want to be at the end of the queue.
I know the crowd will be there in full force as one of their own is gracing the stage, a local legend that resides in the hills of South Australia. This front man’s band is the staple diet of rock n roll in Australia and was a regular meal for me growing up in the late 80’s early 90’s. I had listened to many of their songs on my musical journey, taped their tunes off the radio with my “Sony double cassette recorder” (ask your mom and dad what that was if you were born after the year 2000) and yelled at the top of my lungs in my first car trying to sing “BETTER” than what was blaring out of my speakers.
I walked into “The Gov” a mecca of live music here in Adelaide and I can see why this venue was picked for the first show of the tour. You feel a sense of belonging when you walk in, like a special club with an exclusive membership based on your taste of music. Everyone that I looked at echoed the excitement I was feeling – it was like unwrapping a Christmas present when you have a pretty good idea what that the gift is going to be…….
The sold-out crowd moved forward as the lights dipped, like an incoming tide, filling all the spaces and lapping against the steel mesh of the photographers pit……. It was Show time!
Each member of the band filed out one at a time taking their positions – Paul, Jimi, Cameron and Scott ready to go to war with their “Captain” – Gleeson who strolled in last. Holding a cheeky smile like a Cheshire cat playing with a ball of “Rock n Roll string” the audience was about to get tangled up in musical madness that is “The Screaming Jets”
Straight out of the gate it was instant energy, it felt like someone had shaken a bottle of coke then ripped the top clean off without any regard of where the contents were going. The fun, the excitement was going everywhere, and the “Captain” was spraying everyone in the crowd. This was the first time in 3 years that they had played together in front of a crowd, in the same room and there were no signs of cobwebs in this finely tuned “Screaming Jet”.
It was great seeing the band together feeding off each other’s energy, reinvigorating the music that had been released 30+ years ago in some cases. I felt like I was hearing it for the first time back in my youth, so many emotions flowing with an abundance of happy memories, it was amazing having a “Sold Out” sing along with one of my rock n roll favourites. It was hard to believe that during covid these champions still kept plying their trade remotely and in some instances in isolation and this was the product. I was impressed.
The set was filled with cheeky interludes, observations, genuine interactions with the band and punters. You could really sense that they were raring to play, yearning to be let off the chain and satisfy the thirst of that of the loyalist. They just wanted to “SHINE”. The band as a collective are filled with some amazingly talented humans – Paul Woseen on Bass (and song writer), Cameron McGlinchey on drums, Jimi Hocking on guitar, Scott Kingman on guitar and Dave Gleeson on vocals.
They played a massive tow-part set for over 2 hours with a cracking encore, jammed from top to tail with 21 of the best including the whole Album – “All For One” 30th Anniversary. There was a sneaky mid-break sing along which left the crowd hanging (by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs – you need to catch the next gig by the Jets to find out the song) and I pray that it makes it into the rest of the Australian tour as the punters and myself absolutely loved it.
Some of the highlights for me during the gig included listening to a live version of “Better” sung by the band with at least 1000 other punters as backing vocals – was truly amazing. The change of pace and tempo that was beautiful in “Shivers” was refreshing and the jewel in the crown for me was “Helping Hand” – I don’t think I sung so loudly in all my life. “The Screaming Jets” sounded so sharp and on point, feeding the punters with hit after hit and reminding me why I loved them so much. If (like me) you are a product of the 80’s and 90’s rock n roll scene and it shaped and influenced your life I strongly urge you to check out their schedule of touring dates and get to one of their gigs. It is a must if you are a fan of the “Jets”- they sound amazing, they will entertain you to the very end and they will remind you just how much you love rock n roll.
Grab the Album – “All For One” the 30 year Anniversary Edition and catch their gigs you will be a “BETTER” fan for it!
Set List: C’mon, No point, Better, Needle, Starting Out, Stop the World, Blue Sashes, Sister Tease, FRC, Got It, Only One, Automatic Cowboy, Helping Hand, Dreaming On, Sad Song, October Grey, Razor, Shivers, Eve of Destruction, Guitar Band.
GALLERY
