The Giant Panther

Well, Jet's new CD isn't due for six weeks or so, but some friends of mine left me some freebies for tonight's show at The Paradise here in Boston. My benefactor's, Mark & Melanie, are the Jet fans in my circle, but they chose the fair weather of Cape Cod versus the Friday night concert. I don't really blame them. Not because of the fair weather or because of Jet playing in town, but because The Paradise is probably my least favorite venue to see a concert. It's general admission and holds maybe 1500 (guessing) people, but the sight lines are awful and the air conditioning is non existent. The Paradise is legendary in Boston's long history of hosting concerts, but there are three massive load bearing posts in the middle of the audience that totally wipes out any hope of a view behind them. I'm talking two to three feet wide pillars that eclipse the sun. I hate them and have always hated them, but they are a fixture in this structure. To the credit of whoever owns The Paradise these days, whether it's John Lyons or somebody else (I lost track), they have done a lot of thing to make the venue palatable since I saw Robin Trower and NRBQ way back in the early 80's, but the place still bites. Either you are in one of the decent 60 side and overhead view spots or the front row of standing room (in which case you are done drinking or going to the facilites) or you are basically listening to King Biscuit Flower Hour on the radio as far as I'm concerned. Unless the place is half empty, I have never cared much for the experience that is The Paradise. It's a glorified TT The Bears in Cambridge for my money and TT's is at least a bar first and foremost. Like Johnny D's in Somerville, I kind of wish they'd burn 'em down and begin again, but I'm not holding my breath.

My affinity for all things Australia is relatively well documented by now. AC/DC, Midnight Oil, INXS, Airbourne and Jet are just scratching the surface regarding The Land Down Under. I have posted about most of them by now, but I've still got more work to do. The truth is I didn't really want to go to Jet tonight. I had attended Peter Murphy last night and I am scheduled to see Lez Zeppelin on a boat (Blues) cruise around Boston Harbor tomorrow night. I played some basketball this afternoon and I feel like I've gone 15 rounds with Smokin' Joe Frazier about now. But my friend's Mark & Melanie raved about these guys the last time they were in town so I felt obligated to check them out. I'm glad I did. They definitely operate out of the Oasis and Beatles playbook (Look What You've Done is exactly what I'm talking about), but I don't really hold that against them since I am fans of both bands. They also were a bit reminiscent of The Hives if you can believe that. I just love Walk Idiot Walk by The Hives and I swear Jet has that same choppy urgency at times. They only have two records and one to be released next month, but their new material (That Girl's a Genius to name just one) hold up exceptionally well. In fact I'm looking forward to Shaka Rock when it gets released as a result of seeing them live. I wasn't expecting much when I showed up, but color me impressed.

Jet are closer to classic rock than Indie Rock, which is The Giant Panther's favorite genre, but they had a rabid following and I enjoyed the heck out of their performance tonight. They definitely rock. I'm already on The Giant Panther's bleep list for missing his BBQ tonight, but I had a rock & roll commitment so hopefully he'll cut me some slack. I don't have any of the new material to feature here so I have to leave you with their show closing rocker Cold Hard Bitch instead. The audience was predominantly male, not surprisingly, but there were plenty of pretty young things to go around. I have always loved the young girls holding hands to knife through a particularly thick crowd ostensibly in search of the ladies room. I know my dirty old man mind works overtime when confronted with such sights, but don't hold it against me. By the way, Jet look cumulatively 25 years of age max. They remind me of another young band from Australia that I couldn't get enough of once upon a time in Silverchair. I wonder if those kids are 30 yet. I don't care how old you are if you can rock like Jet and Silverchair. If you get a chance to see these guys is a real venue take a chance. It's a ballad free zone for sure...and that's always a good thing in my book...