The last time Jamie T played Brisbane, it was September 2009. By then he was Wimbledon’s finest MC, a Mercury Award nominated artist finally touring Australia, having performed at massive festival shows across Europe, on the back of his second acclaimed album, Kings and Queens. And then he was gone. For five years we heard nothing of one of Britain’s most enterprising artists – save for some unsubstantiated whispers of collaborations that never came to fruition. There was nothing until mid 2014 and the release of a new single ‘Don’t You Find’ and the announcement of the follow-up album, Carry On The Grudge.
The Australian tour announcement soon followed but, would Australian audiences still remember the savvy Londoner with quick witted hooks and the tales of the underworld? Of characters named Smack Jack, Harmonica Man Sam, Sheila and Coca Cola communists? Of nights in the pub and on the train with the occasional piece of dating advice? From the look of the impassioned throng at his feet and the sound of the at capacity Hifi belting out lyrics verbatim in faux-south London accents, it’s pretty clear that Brisbane remembers. And the memory is crystal clear!
[include_post id=”422824″]
A worthy support in the form of Sydney outfit, High-tails starts proceedings tonight with a set of sprawling indie guitar pop. Having only just released their debut EP Sipping Tea To Make Music to Sip Tea To a few months ago, this is the first many have seen of the quartet but they leave quite the impression with off-beat numbers ‘Bending Over Backwards’ and ‘Aztecks’ and bringing out the melodica for ‘Maps’ and an ear-catching cover of Cake’s ‘Never There’.
With the release of one of 2014’s finest albums, Carry On The Grudge, Jamie T – full name Jamie Treays – has been welcomed back into the zeitgeist with open arms. As he swaggers out in what was soon to become a very sweaty experiment in double denim, it’s like he never left as he and his four-piece backing band belt out album opener ‘Limits Lie’, followed by the evening’s first sing-along, the surprisingly upbeat ‘Don’t You Find’.
Following the schizophrenic metal pummelings of ‘Peter’ with the keyboard centred hip hop of ‘So Lonely Was The Ballad’ showed the new and more reflective Jamie T can co-exist with the established back-catalogue of street poetry the word-smith is known for. And it doesn’t sound in the least bit jarring. Taking a seat with his acoustic for ‘Emily’s Heart’ provided a more sombre moment in the show but another banger was always only a song away as the notion the set was winding down was quickly dispelled as he gets to his feet again, loses the guitar and spits out Kings and Queens tracks ‘368’ and ‘Spider’s Web’ taking the entirety of the venue with him.
Without dragging the tempo down or losing pace, Jamie avoids all the big numbers before closing the set proper with ‘If You Got The Money’ and returning for the compulsory encore featuring the essentials, ‘Sheila’, current hit ‘Zombie’ and finally ‘Sticks ‘n’ Stones’ – which allowed punters their last chance to use their adopted accent as they screamed out the song’s final verse, “as soon as I see the dust se’le, le’s go ou’ and find some trouble!”
With that, the Friday night crowd shuffle out of the Hifi thoroughly reminded of who Jamie T is and why they love the motor-mouth maestro but judging from the stench of spilled beer and the amount of plastic cups littering the floor of the venue as we walk back out into the rain, some fans may be cursing his name in the morning.
