This is going to be hard to top. 2009 is barely one day old but I might have just seen the best show of the year; The Mystery Jets. The British quartet’s sophomore album Twenty One has been making waves in the alternative music scene and to anybody at the Hi-Fi on Thursday night it was obvious why. The Mystery Jets are a fucking great band.

The night was amazing from start to finish, thanks in no small part to the excellent support act Mission Control. Their melodic brand of grungy noise, replete with spacey synths and fuzzed out guitars has given them a reputation as one the best young bands in Melbourne. They also have one of the coolest frontmen going round. His name is Raph Brous and he is a multitasking performer. In the course of one song he sings, plays guitar, rocks out on the keyboard and pulls some funky frontman shapes. His rich, melodic voice also contrasts particularly well with the noisy canvas of sound delivered by the rest of the band. It’s really good stuff. Watch out for these guys.

It all started with a siren. A wailing air raid siren in the total darkness. The Mystery Jets came onstage looking like glam rock gods. They all wore sequined jackets that glittered and glimmered with every movement they made. It was downright hypnotic, and so was their music.

Credit must also be given to the venue. I saw the band at Falls the day before, and I have to say I was underwhelmed. But the Hi-Fi stage, with its amphitheatre shape and reverberating acoustics, perfectly captured the band’s intensity, particularly that of loose limbed drummer Kapil Trevedi, who had the vigor of a hundred Energiser bunnies. You just could not stop him.

Three songs into the set and the crowd were well and truly in love. When new single Half In Love With Elizabeth came on the punters began to think of marriage. That cool, brooding six note guitar line just sticks in your head and just works so well with the shouted “do-do-do-do” in the chorus.

Young Love is so catchy it should be criminal. It’s a track that epitomises all of the band’s best qualities. A boppy bass line from the irresistible Kai Fish precedes that lovely chorus, stuffed to the brim with soaring three part harmonies until another wordless, shouted bridge. In fact I’ve never seen a band make such good use of wordless sections. Normally when a band resorts to “do-do’s” or “la-la’s” they seem to be being lazy, but really why bother with words when you’ve got melodies this good. Back to Young Love though, despite the absence of Laura Marling (her part was ably sung by the wonderful Blaine Harrison) the song has to go down as one of the best of last year.

The Mystery Jets are capable of a change of pace, like in the wonderful – œslow song’ Flakes. It gives Robert Smith look-a-like led singer Harrison a chance to show just how cool his voice is. It’s a warbling vibrato, which shimmies in and out, from a barely there whisper in the verses to a rousing, incantation in the chorus. This band can be moving as well as fun.

As well as creating amazing music, the band looks after its crowd. Towards the end of the set they served drinks to the crowd, passing a dubious looking black liquid to the punters in the first rows. Now that’s service. It was seriously one of those gigs that don’t come along too often. It is two days later and I’m still fucking buzzing because of The Mystery Jets. I can’t talk these guys up enough, buy the album, check out their Myspace, they’re playing in Sydney in a few days, flights can’t be that expensive. You have to see this band.