There have been a lot of great bands that have come out of this country’s unique pub rock scene over the years. Some of these bands have succeeded overseas and continued on, while others have faded away after failing to break out onto the international scene. I’m talking about great acts such as AC/DC, Midnight Oil, INXS, Cold Chisel and Rose Tattoo. These bands are all legendary, hard working, hard rocking, hard drinking, Aussie rock superstars. They gave it their all because music was all they lived for (or so it would seem). Unfortunately, in this day and age, pub rock is not what it used to be. The current Aussie rock favourites (Silverchair, Thirsty Merc, Powderfinger…etc,) look more like soft, lethargic, uni students, rather than rock legends; in my opinion at least. It seems that the closest you can get to the vibe of a real pub rock show nowadays is a country music show, which is great if you can handle twangy guitars and corny songs about utes.
This brings me to my point for today- there are some rare exceptions to this modern day dilemma. With a huge sigh of relief, I can happily say, ‘Thank god for The Screaming Jets!’.
Upon arriving at the Bridgeway Hotel for the Jets latest visit to Adelaide; it was great to see that as always, the band had attracted yet another healthy sized crowd. In all the years that I’ve been going to see the Jets perform, I can’t remember ever seeing a quiet gig. By the time the band hit the stage, the classic pub gig vibe was well and truly in the room.
Although I was initially shocked to see that original guitarist Grant Walmsley was absent (and replaced by ex-Horsehead guitarist Scott Kingman), it was soon clear that the band had lost none of their onstage dynamic. If anything, their performance seemed even more intense than usual, especially from guitarist Izzy Osmanovic’s corner of the stage, and as usual, frontman Dave Gleeson was a crazed ball of energy for the entire set. The Jets blitzed through all of their usual back catalogue favourites, a few forgotten gems from past albums and I was more than happy to hear a few new tunes (from an upcoming and overdue new album) which all went down very well with the hot and sweaty crowd. The biggest Jets hits were saved for the last few songs of the set (Shivers, Better, and C’mon) and for the encore, ex-Rose Tattoo guitarist Rockin’ Rob Riley got up to play with the band, which really emphasised the classic pub rock gig vibe that was in the air for the whole occasion.
It really is impossible (for me especially) not to have a good time at a Screaming Jets show. They always seem to be able to capture a spirit from the room that seems to be largely missing from far too many rock shows these days which makes the beer goes down far too easily and makes me look like a serious alcoholic to anyone who only ever sees me at Jets shows.
Long live the Jets! Rock on.