Jet

Anybody that waited patiently to see Jet on last years NME stage would have been disappointed. They were forced to pull out after the father of two of the members of the band passed away, and consequently replaced with Embrace.

Despite releasing no material in the UK since V Festival 2004 Jet have been elevated to the main stage. Judging by their performance and the reaction given to them by the crowd that’s where they deserve to be.

Jet start as they mean to go on, one note followed by a progressive drum beat and then the opening chords to ‘Cold Hard Bitch’, the fourth single from 2003’s ‘Get Born’. Singer Nic Cester belts out “Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhhhh’ at the top of his voice and the rock machine that is Jet swings into full motion. Crunching guitars, predictable rolling drums and dirty rock n roll at its best.

Coming from the land of down-under and harboring a less grungier sound than fellow compatriots The Vines, Jet have always played unashamedly dirty rock n roll songs, a nod towards vintage AC/DC and Slade.

Drummer Chris Chester plays a bit like ‘Animal’ from Sesame Street, except he makes the muppet look tame in comparison.

‘Roll Over DJ’ quickly follows, sounding a lot like ‘Pumping on your stereo’ by Supergrass. Not altogether a bad thing – but originality is definitely something that Jet lack. The lyrics are predictable, as if Chester (singer) had gone through a book of rhyming words and picked them out – but poor lyrics never did Oasis any harm and this type of music is perfect for punching the air to.

New single ‘Bring it on back’ was basically Jet amplified – more of the same, just much heavier. Jet are always going to be radio friendly rockers, which is why a lot of people hate them, and why a lot of people adore them. For a four piece they have an incredibly stripped down feel – the songs often sound as if they’re played by a three piece and more than not sound a lot like The White Stripes.

The ballad ‘Look what you’ve done’ surprisingly involved the biggest sing-a-long of the afternoon. ‘Lazy gun’ reeked of T-Rex and ‘Last Chance Honey’ preceded the fantastic ‘Are you gonna be my girl’. As soon as the memorable bass line kicked in everyone was on their feet (Quite unusual for the main stage at Staffs in the afternoon). The band premiered another new song, presumably called ‘Stand up’ that sounded like The Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’, then raised their performance up another notch with ‘Get me Out of here’ and finally closing the set with the superb, guitar driven ‘Take it or leave it’.

It’s been a while but Jet are back with that great down to earth dirty rock n roll style that they do best, and they’re not changing for anyone. Take it or leave it!

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