The JD Set feat. You Am I, TheShiny Brights, The GlassCeiling @ The Gaelic Club(23/05/09)

Mon 25th May, 2009 in Gig Reviews

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE.

You Am I has a bit of a reputation for championing bands that later go out and conquer the world. Previous ‘before they were big’ supports have included The Vines and The Strokes. So it was only a matter of time before someone, in this case grog-merchants Jack Daniels, cottoned on to the idea of showcasing up-and-coming bands under the You Am I banner.

With the people having spoken, Adelaide’s The Shiny Brights and Sydney’s own The Glass Ceiling were voted as the support bands for the first round of The JD Set, Jack Daniels’ way of supporting local talent in the making. One could not fault The Shiny Brights for a lack of enthusiasm, with The Gaelic Club’s small stage barely able to contain frontman Wolfgang Marwe’s sand-crabs-in-his-tight-black-jeans dancing style. The Glass Ceiling earned their #1 spot in the JD Set voting charts with a tight set and their familiar Brit-rock sounds.

In the spirit of showcasing other people’s music, You Am I took centre stage and opened with a cover of Teenage Fanclub’s The Concept, before ploughing through a decidedly Convicts and Dilettantes heavy set-list. Eschewing singles for a small bounty of recent album tracks, a rarity for a free gig on a Saturday night, nifty little numbers like Givin’ Up and Gettin’ Fat, By My Own Hand, Nervous Kid, Erasmus and Friends Like You preceded the crowd-pleasing surprise of The Clash’s London Calling. Then the band relented and finally gave the crowd a ‘single’ in the form of 1996’s Good Mornin’.

Frontman Tim Rogers announced to the audience that it was guitarist Davey Lane’s tenth anniversary with the band. It served simultaneously to remind us that none of us are getting any younger and yes, they have been doing this for a very long time now. Rogers proved that he had lost none of his venom in that time, verbally admonishing one punter’s attempts to offer a difference of opinion on the band Green Day. During the Berlin Chair encore, this culminated with a young man seeing fit to crowd-surf his way to the stage, wobbling a mic-stand in the process.

Mr. Rogers promptly crash-tackled him, dragged him off the side, barely missing a beat to return to the bit about “It’s tooo late…” It seems a few people didn’t heed the small print on the many JD ads (about knowing when to unplug and drink responsibly).

As the evening wore down, energy levels were still high, and You Am I were not about to rest on their collective laurels. Closing the night out with the beautiful The Piano Up the Tree, the band proved that they were sticking by their credo of just playing the songs they want to play. With songs as good as these, who can really argue?

The night gave us a taste of what the future had in store for us. With the JD Set continuing throughout June, it looks like punters will get their chance to vote and see free music for a while to come. Just remember kids, when you vote for the next round, drink responsibly.