And so they’re back from outer space and the outer Caribbean, with a new album, Shine On, tucked under their arms (lest it escape into the wilds of the world wide web, leaking early and leaking strong). Jet’s sophomore album, has much riding on it – as does any follow-up to a debut that sold in excess of a couple o’ million around the world, earmarking the band as the biggest rock ‘n roll act to emerge from Australia internationally since Midnight Oil.

Already the band have played a well-publicised ‘secret’ show and a follow-up theatre effort in home town of Melbourne, and now Jet are here to lay their tyre-tracks in Sydney.  They play a set dotted with the golden oldies from Get Born not least of all the hit’ Are You Gonna Be My Girl’, which is greeted with a shrill squeal from the moment Nick Cester gets a tambourine from stage left.

They open with a new number so Oasis it hurts, before a couple of oldies get the crowd right royally pumping.  A couple of newer cuts feature drummer Chris Cester on lead vocals, much as ‘Move On’ did on Get Born but these are far removed from that slow fare – instead ‘Holiday’ in particular offers up a jaunty rhythm unlike anything Jet have delivered before.

It’s clear from the new numbers that they play tonight that Jet are going to be far more tempered and layered on their second release. The keys are even more prominent and announced than those of Billy Preston on Get Born, and particularly on the later newer numbers played tonight there’s a lot more of a mid-tempo pacing – ‘Bring it All Back’ is reminiscent of solo John Lennon circa Mind Games.  In contrast, two other new numbers are brutal and frank.

But it seems that the best songs on Shine On are likely to be the falsetto-lead first single ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ (a stomper of a tune), and two quasi-ballads – ‘King’s Horses’ is a great, great song akin to Franz Ferdinand’s ‘Eleanor Put Your Boots On’ in the way that it can be presented either in melancholy or aggressive manner, and the title cut, which details the death of the Cester boys’ father shortly after they became a household name.

Still, there’s nothing OUTSTANDING about them.  They have a clutch of great songs – ‘Take it or Leave It’ is particularly strong this evening, with the band really letting loose rather than looking inhibited – but also a batch of middling copycats of their heroes.  Shine On will no doubt but a very, very good album, but everyone wants Jet to be better than good.  How Shine On ends up being is going to be interesting to hear.