Two years after the release of his debut album Panic Prevention, Jamie T is back in Australia with his band the Pacemakers promoting and touring his highly anticipated second album Kings and Queens.
With the first show of the Australian tour kicking off at the Metro Theatre in Sydney you wouldn't have thought it was a wednesday night with so many keen, hyped and boisterous locals buzzing with excitement inside and outside the venue on George street. The popularity of Jamie T amonst the Australian audience is obvious and proven by the high rotation radio play of his songs and the sold out shows in all the capital cities around the country.
Inside, the crowd was swarming and eargerly waiting for the energised Jamie T's set. Not much attention was being paid to the support act Ernest Ellis as everyone was too busy getting into a good position or trying to buy beers in the four to five deep bar lines before the show.
At 10pm the highly enthusiastic and restless crowd roar to welcome Jamie T and the Pacemakers onto the stage. Jamie t looks every bit the typical English lad wearing a denim jacket on top of a hoodie pulled over a baseball cap, smoking and swigging a VB.
Getting stright to it the set was a great mixture of old and new material kicking off with a playful version of the lead track from his 2007 debut album Panic Prevention, " Brand New Bass Guitar'. Backed by the Pacemakers, the range in music genres and styles including hip hop, punk and rock blends really complimented and reshaped Jamie's original format of bass beats and samples. A couple of songs in after '368', the crowds energy ramped up to which Jamie T and Pacemakers were able to maintain and carry through the rest of the night. In between tracks Jamie would chat to the crowd expressing his gratitude and how glad his was to be back in Oz.
Next on Jamie T's set list was a dedication - putting the song 'Earth, Wind & Fire' out there to his father for being a 'double hard bastard', followed by the poppy, light hearted new single 'Chuka Demus', which proved to show that even though the new album had only been released in Australia for a short time the local crowd of fans were up on all the new tracks and lyrics.
At the half way mark, the crowd sing-a-long participation continues to increase and the front section turns into a moshpit when Jamie T and the Pacemakers fall back to some of the golden oldies like'Back in the Game', and 'Sheila' just before the roof is ripped off with that old faithful and obvious favourite 'If you got the Money'. By the end of the night everyone was dancing and singing to every song until Jamie T and the Pacemakers left the stage for a short berak pre encore.
Waiting for the encore, the crowd became loud and crazed, stomping the floor and chanting Jamie T's return to stage. He finally appears alone and to slow down the pace he opens with the sensative and delicate slow acoustic sounds of 'Emily's Heart'. Unfortunately this song failed to captivate the highly charged crowd which was a real shame, because as large cohorts of the audience talked over this sweet, heartfelt song they missed the softer side of one of the new records more tender and beautifully crafted acoustic tracks showing Jamie T's growth and maturity as an artist. Last but not least and working the crowd into an absolute frenzy of dancing and screaming out lyrics was the final epic track 'Sticks and Stones' which was the song everyone seemed to be waiting for.
It is obvious that jamie t's unique vocal delivery and storytelling lyrical style is a popular and successful combination with his fans. In addition with the Pacemakers genre-fusion of punk, hip hop and rock musical layouts Jamie T's new direction and material is clearly on a winning streak in the music world. In a live setting Jamie brings incredible energy to his shows and feeds off the enthusiasm and excitement of the audience backed up by his band. Was definately one of the most fun, exciting and surprising gigs I have been to all year and I would highly recommend everyone to check him out if given the chance.
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