Melbourne’s Jet are a funny bunch – they keep taking a long time between drinks and just when you think you’ve seen the last of them they’re back. Of course, the cynical way of looking at it might be that with the demise of Wolfmother (who booted Jet out of the way for their own success in the first place), Jet have seen a window of opportunity to try for a second comeback. Well, at least their announcement of an indefinite hiatus in October last year seems hardly a call at all now, with the band’s press release saying that album number three has been a whole 12 months in the making. As for where the band have headed on next year’s release, the packed East Brunswick Club would soon find out – with Jet performing a selection of tracks to a sold out home town crowd.

There’s something odd about Nic Cester – it was nearly impossible to tell whether or not he was actually excited to be back on stage. There were moments where he’d simply stare into space and whilst the screaming, “c’mons” and thank yous were thrown into the set, Cester just seemed to lack something – perhaps not by the end but certainly in the earlier stages ( Get What You Need didn’t deliver its potential at all with a slower tempo and much less energy than it deserved). Even despite his several climbs onto the crowd barrier, it really took a while for Cester to be able to naturally connect with anyone in the room. Brother Chris on drums and Mark Wilson on bass had the excitement Nic lacked though, and the local lads tore quickly through their tracks, new and old.

Singles Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Are You Gonna Be My Girl featured earlier than expected in the set, with the latter track missing its usual shenanigans between Cester and the crowd (“Well I said… Well I said…!!” – that sort of thing). They still carried a lot of punch though, and certainly the reactions to such numbers stood out amongst the selection of new material on show. The best pick for the new tracks was Beat On Repeat (forgive the potential naming error), with a dash of funk driven into the basslines to hint at a slightly new sound. Others that showed Jet staying true to their straight up rock and roll were Seventeen and Goodbye Hollywood, in which Cester appropriately repeated the lyric, “I’m coming home.”

Keeping the set short and sweet, Rip It Up quickly appeared and finally showed the real potential for Jet to come back with force. With Cester’s scream that Barnesy would be proud of, alongside the heavy guitar work, the track was a definite antidote to some of the lesser experiences of the set. An obvious encore kept up the positive appearances too, with Cester delivering his best vocal for the night on the Oasis-esque Shine On and then giving singing duties to the crowd on Look What You’ve Done. The delightfully rough Cold Hard Bitch then rounded things off and reminded the packed house why they’d hit the town midweek.

Jet are a band that thrives on delivering a sound that people are familiar with and can enjoy for the sole reason that it’s good for a fun time. This secret gig was a credit to that fact and despite the odd hiccup the band are still delivering what their fans want in a fine way – oh, and giving away their next album free to everyone in the house.

CHECK OUT THE PIX FROM THE GIG HERE