November 2003, Bedford Esquires. (www.feed-back.tk)
Everyone who left their fivers on the door or bought tickets in advance knew this was going to be a great gig. After all, this is Jetplane Landing we are talking about.
Their gig tonight is number 59 of a 69 day tour which has gained them respect all over the UK.
Unfortunately Jarcrew who were supposed to be supporting Jetplane are instead, supporting Million Dead and the band that took Jarcrew’s place didn’t turn up which meant an hour’s worth of waiting around. Luckily members of Jetplane walked around and shared a few words with people who came up to them, I managed to get my shirt signed – as did my mates and we all got taken backstage [don’t worry that’s not some kind of an innuendo] where we walked in slowly to this unknown territory… with the Irish greeting/warning of “just don’t touch any of our beers”.
10 minutes later Drive Like Casey – a local 5 piece from Luton took to the stage, I had seen them support Longview before at esquires and I knew this was going to be good. They have a brit rock /pub rock/ alternative - indie sound – a bit like the Stereophonics or Travis with a bit of alternative sprinkled in the mix. The vocalist Dave has a gritty sounding voice, the drummer just looks mental [in a good way], the guitarists look the part with their beer slogan shirts and the ability to play without shoes, and the bassist sports a nifty hat…as always… there was a good response from the crowd when they finished their songs – they obviously hit what I like to call the ‘g spot’ of the crowd.
Their songs are tight and addictive. The lead guitar resounds in your ears with a style that can only be described as ‘spacey’ or ‘dream like’. Then as they play through their final songs they announce, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we were Drive Like Casey…next stop Jetplane Landing” to a huge cheer from the crowd.
Jetplane then took to the stage with a lot of presence and went straight into the hard thumping ‘Acrimony’. NO ONE could resist going mad over this one. The sound was awesome and as I stood there with front man Andrew occasionally looking at me, and even occasionally spitting at me [by accident I’m sure] I couldn’t help feel that this was going to be a fucking excellent night. Rumours that they could be just that little bit tired were immediately destroyed as Jetplane continued to play through songs off ‘Zero For Conduct’ and ‘Once Like A Spark’ as tight as ever. Lead Guitarist [Cahir] played brilliantly throughout …even if he did not fulfil the tasks that he was set by Andrew – such as star jumping.
Throughout the night one thing became clear about Jetplane Landing and that was their love and dedication to their fans. They displayed this by talking to and shaking the hands of fans before and during the gig, which everyone was very appreciative of.
The gig was great, I don’t think anyone who attended could say they didn’t like it… people were evidently loving every minute of it, one man in particular saying, “that was fucking wicked, I LOVE YOU JETPLANE LANDING” every 5 minutes to which Andrew replied, “you may love us… but the truth is, we love you more” many bands say this, but you definitely know that this is the truth of the matter with Jetplane.
They played a faultless set – my highlights were, the anthemic ‘what has the argument changed?’ the great and future single ‘Brave Gravity’ and the closer of their current album ‘There is no real courage unless there is real danger’.
As expected – this was a great gig. If all the other gigs were as good as this or better then I’m sure Jetplane have definitely hit the ‘g spot’ and then some…
craig @ [feed-back]