Tim & Jean @ Jive, Adelaide(23/04/11)

Mon 25th Apr, 2011 in Gig Reviews

It really came as no surprise that the crowds came swiftly and early for Tim & Jean ’s Adelaide gig, even though it was situated smack-bang in the middle of a five day public holiday. With the Voltaire Twins and Radio Spectacular!!! in for support, those who came in early were in for a treat.

The crowd was still gathering as Perth duo Voltaire Twins took to the stage. The brother and sister act were accompanied by some additional members and set out straight away with a high-energy, indie-dance fest that closely mimicked the sounds of Tim & Jean. Not that that was a bad thing, as it was clearly a style the crowd agreed with. For these guys however, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t seem to tempt any of the crowd onto the dance floor, with people choosing to stand tentatively around the edges, enjoying the music at a safer, less embarrassing distance. This even prompted a clearly sarcastic call from Jaymes, claiming “you guys are way more fun than Melbourne, I bet you guys get that all the time.” The lack of crowd enthusiasm was a shame really as their set was incredibly lively and catchy, their sparkling synths and harmonising melodies were a real joy to watch and should’ve provided instant dance-floor mania.

Next up was local duo (I’m starting to see a trend here…) Radio Spectacular!!! Luckily for them, by the time they hit the stage, people had no choice but to crowd around on the dance-floor so they received a much better reception. While their set wasn’t as catchy as the Voltaire Twins’ was, their quirky style of indie electro was enough to get the dance floor going, with the well-known track You Light Me Up receiving the best reception.

By the time Tim & Jean took to the stage, the female-to-male crowd ratio was at around 70:30 so it’s fair to say they were greeted with enthusiastic fanfare. Accompanied by two additional members, the boys played around with the sound for a bit before launching into the title track off their debut album Like What with singer Tim Ayre commanding the stage from the outset. Solina followed soon after, a much more relaxed song, before following up with other tracks Don’t Stop, Souls and Give It Up. Older track Everywhere, a synth-loaded, dynamic cover of the Fleetwood Mac song, received an overwhelming reception, showing the crowd was full of old and new fans alike, something that I personally wasn’t expecting.

The middle of the set welcomed a change of style as Ayre revealed their love of jazz music before the band busted out into the most amazing jazz-breakdown, with Ayre seriously showing his talent behind the keys whilst Jean and the others smashed out some seriously smooth beats. Personally, I had walked in expecting to see nothing but their style of synth-laden indie-pop so this was a real delight to watch and see the boys having so much fun on stage. They followed this little digression up with a cover of Tom Petty ’s Free Falling before continuing on with their well known hits Veronika and I Can Show You then closing the show with Come Around, the perfect, high-energy ending to a powerfully dynamic show.

I’ve been to my fair share of gigs so far this year and I would have to say that Tim & Jean were certainly up there as one of the best, with their energetic, passionate and fun set a real pleasure to watch and be a part of. Not to mention the boys really looked like they were having a blast up there. The crowd’s enthusiasm throughout was surely a sign to them that we love their stuff so hopefully they’ll be back again soon and when they are you have to catch them, it’s well worth it.