To survive twenty years in a vicious industry such as music, you need to constantly reinvent yourself, stay current, or otherwise have a timeless sound that fans yearn for. Fortunately for Jebediah, they are a triple threat that has withstood the test of time and whilst they’ve not done so much of the ‘reinventing’, they’ve certainly honed their style to make it sound just as good today as it did when they burst on the scene 20 years ago.
The packed out crowd at HQ Adelaide last Thursday were there to help the band celebrate their 20th Birthday/Anniversary on their, funnily enough, ‘Twenty Tour’ and it was fantastic to see ‘The Jebs’ still playing as hard and energetic as when it all started. Supported by Red Jezebel, who were a perfect compliment to the lineup, it was a blissful journey back to the mid 90’s when Jebediah burst onto the scene. Red Jezebel were initially a little loud early in their set, possibly due to bad sound mixing, but acoustically recovered in the latter half of their set as punters filled the room and absorbed the wall of sound that these guys pumped out. Lead singer Paul ‘Woody’ Wood was happily mingling with the crowd between Jebediah sets, and was genuinely thrilled to be supporting The Jebs on this leg of the tour.
Jebediah kicked off their set with Military Strongmen and Animal, and kept on pumping out their easily recognizable songs one after the other. The set list of course had all the favourites including their debut hit Leaving Home, Benedict, Harpoon and some of the lesser known tracks from Slightly Odway such as Blame but of course appearances from other albums were present right through to Kosciuszko. For two hours the audience was fixed to their spots with their eyes on the band, not just because Jebediah are a brilliant live act, but because the horrendous carpet at HQ Complex was so sticky that it was like human flypaper.
But I digress!
For old school mates Kevin & Brett Mitchell, Chris Daymond, and Vanessa Thornton, their vow to ‘keep doing it while it’s fun’ seems like a safe call for fans of The Jebs, who after twenty years still have all the youthful vigour and energy as witnessed in their initial years. Jebediah are only twenty years old with a long life ahead of them, so please don’t go getting all serious and grow up on us!
With sold out shows across the nation and a legion of adoring fans of all generations, one can only look forward for what’s to come from Jebediah, they’re one of those rare Aussie acts that have stayed true to themselves and continue to pump out some seriously good tunes. My score- 20/20 of course!
Reviewed by Darren Hassan
Twitter: @DazzHassan
*Read our earlier interview with Brett Mitchell here
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