The first concert I ever attended was when I was a teenager in 2005. Oasis was the headliner act at the Shoreline Amphitheatre but opening the bill were two other bands I really liked — English rock band Kasabian supporting their debut EP kicked things off, and Melbourne rockers Jet were playing in support of their epic debut album Get Born. Now almost 20 years later, Oasis has announced they’re back together and Jet was back in the United States for the first time in nearly 15 years playing some new tunes at the Troubadour and the entirety of Get Born front to back.
This was the second sold-out night at the Troubadour which concluded a five-week tour that began in Europe and concluded with a couple shows in New York, one in Nashville, and the two Troubadour shows. The Troubadour had played host to Jet a couple times in their early years. A friend of mine told me of seeing Jet with opener Kings of Leon in 2003, what a time that must have been.
That first record was so huge for me in middle school as I began discovering what would ultimately become my own musical taste and not stuff that was influenced by my early years of sharing a tiny room with my two older brothers. Jet was one of those bands that I became obsessed with, downloading that first album on Napster (sorry guys) before buying it with my allowance money at the Warehouse down the street from me. I knew it front-to-back and as I got stoked to finally see them again Monday night, it was crazy to realize I still knew all of the words.
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” took this band to mega heights but that whole record was so strong. It was funny coming home from a concert last week and a friend’s playlist of 500+ songs clicked over to that Jet song, which tells you just how much that sound is still in. It feels as though we are in a time where we could use more rock stars, and though we are struggling to find the next generation, it feels like a good time for guys like Oasis and Jet to make their returns.
It was 2012 when the band announced they were breaking up and a start-stop reformation in 2016. At the end of 2022, talks of the band reuniting began to circulate as they geared up for the 20th anniversary of Get Born. Some home shows in Australia came first, and then finally the announcement they were coming back to the States.
The Troubadour was packed and there was a great mix of people in the venue. People who had seen Jet live before, people who had loved Jet but never got the chance to see them before, and even a superfan in the front who had been to every single show of theirs over the five-week tour, which was quite impressive. Three of the four primary members Nic Cester (guitar/vocals), Cameron Muncey (guitar/vocals), and Mark Wilson (bass, who joined the band a couple years after the other three had first formed it) were joined alongside Louis Macklin (keys) and Pete Marin (drums) for these shows.
The first handful of songs were non-Get Born tracks including their latest single “Hurry Hurry” that dropped on Sept. 6. That song had a bit of a ’90s Aerosmith feel to it live compared to the recording. Everyone was into it.
Then came the Get Born portion of the set as the band played the record front-to-back. The record was recorded just a few miles away at the famed Sunset Studios, home to some epic records from the likes of The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, and tons more. Acclaimed producer Dave Sardy made his bones on this record. Every song was a singalong, from hit singles like “Rollover D.J.” to “Cold Hard Bitch” to deeper cuts like “Radio Song” and “Lazy Gun”. The charisma was still there in full force.
The ballad “Move On” took on a new meaning to me in the context of celebrating 20 years of this record. “It’s such a waste to always look behind you, you should be looking straight ahead,” Cester sings in the opening verse. It might be a waste to always look behind you, but sometimes you have to stop and smell the roses and you don’t really know where you’re going without knowing where you’ve already been. Seeing these guys on stage laughing and smiling and playing to a raucous crowd half the world away from where they grew up, I am sure they felt it too.
Jet had a certain reputation among the early 2000s rock revolution as maybe not having as much depth as bands like The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Those that felt that way probably heard the hits and never dug in deeper on the band. That came across pretty clear to me when they closed the Get Born set with album-closer “Timothy”, which I myself never knew the story behind the song.
After seeing a female photographer in the crowd singing every word with tears streaming down her face, I went to look up the meaning behind the song only to find out it was written with guitarist Muncey’s brother in mind. His older brother died as an infant before he was born and the song has a lot to do with feeling like a replacement child for his parents. “Never used your head to find out what this whole thing mean,” Muncey sings on the song. “Never used your legs to walk ’round this whole big mess,” he later adds. The song as one that the band actually only ever played a time or two when Get Born was initially released because it was too hard for Muncey. Knowing that after seeing him pour his soul into singing it at the Troubadour was a beautiful moment.
These guys know how to write a fucking banger. Is “Get What You Need” the deepest song ever written? Fuck no. But look at the catalogs of some of rock n roll’s biggest bands and some of their best songs and most transcendent songs are just party anthems. And that Jet record had more than its fair share of anthems. But if you dug deeper, they’d tug at your heartstrings on songs like “Look What You’ve Done” and “Timothy”.
After Get Born, Cester remained on stage to sing “Shine One” with an acoustic guitar. That was their biggest hit post-Get Born and I’m glad I got to hear that one live. I do love the album version and the way it builds as a piano ballad, but the stripped back nature of hearing it with just an acoustic guitar put more emphasis on the words. Two more songs closed out the night with the full band, who promised to be back in town again soon. A new record is rumored for next year, and rock and roll could definitely use it.
Naarm-based power psych trio Super American Eagle opened the show, and I recognized drummer Dave Mudie from playing with Courtney Barnett back several years. They were fun!
Words by Mark Ortega
Photos by Tim Aarons
