There’s no label that can accurately describe the style of Jamie T. You might try joining the dots between hip-hop, indie, punk and reggae but after scratching your head for half an hour, you’d probably be more confused than when you started out. The best indication of what Jamie T sounds like is something you can only get from wandering through the equally baffling mixture of punters in the crowd at one of his shows. At the front are the groupies, tits out, ready to suck up NME’s indie soup du jour. At the bar are the chavs, looking for something to tide them over until The Streets release another album. Dotted around the crowd are band shirts from right across the spectrum while there’s the occasional raver in an ill-advised upside-down tennis visor.

At the second gig of Jamie T’s Australian tour at the Bakery here in Perth, the only two things the crowd had in common were a) a pulse and b) Jamie T. Opening act Sex Panther struggled with this, despite having one of the most recognisable and enjoyable sounds in Perth at the moment. Dressed in what looked like the illegitimate child of a tablecloth and a poncho, vocalist Storm led the all-girl foursome through a textbook Sex Panther performance. Their sound is still fresh and interesting but while tracks like Killer Pink, Pretty Boys and closing number Cuntstruck may have converted a few new fans, their set won’t have stood out to anyone who had seen them before.

Though the crowd had been fairly unresponsive during Sex Panther’s set, it didn’t take long for the night to warm up. Egged on chants of Jaaay-meee by the chavs in the crowd, Jamie arrived on stage solo, armed with just a bass guitar and a microphone for a stripped-back rendition of Calm Down Dearest, perhaps a message to his rowdy fans. But they took no notice. Pressed up against one another right up to the back of the venue, it only got worse as his band joined him for the more upbeat Brand New Bass Guitar. There was a brief breather as the crowd loosened up for a dance during So Lonely Was the Ballad and Operation but with the back-to-back of If You Got the Money and Ike n Tina, it was right back into it.

Fresh from their recent tour of Australia with Gerry (sorry), The Pacemakers complemented Jamie well, reworking the complex sounds of album Panic Prevention for the live setting. Rather than sounding like a guy making tunes in his South London bedroom, the full-band setup fit the occasion ideally and gave the album tracks a rawer and more organic feeling.

Saying that, the show was all about the man behind the mic. Taking the time to thank Sex Panther and interact with the crowd, Jamie’s presence held their attention while his unique vocal delivery and storytelling lyrical style had them hanging on his every word. And for those still unsure of where he fits in England’s musical lineage, a tidy cover of Billy Bragg’s A New England in the encore put the likes of Back in the Game, Northern Line and Sheila in context, confirming Jamie T as England’s most innovative songsmith in 2007.