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A thick fog had descended over the Mersey as excitable fans gathered at the Pier Head. ‘Is it the ash cloud?’, one concerned girl naively asked her Bieberesque boyfriend.
Suddenly, the MV Royal Daffodil appeared from the haze, seductively lit in purple, blaring out music.
After embarking, and a quick chance to grab a drink, the Jets were welcomed to the stage with enthusiastic whooping and hollering. Their opening salvo was Flash a Hungry Smile off new LP Serotonin. Even if it isn’t released as a single, it’s going to be a big tune on the festival circuit, with its jaunty kazoo and soaring melody.
It’s clear from the get-go that the band are enjoying being back on tour and confident about the new material. Waiting on a Miracle opens with screeching guitars, drowned in feedback. Time signatures jump around schizophrenically, ending in a rousing, joyous climax. This certainly is the ‘widescreen’ sound the band have been using when describing the new album.
Flakes sees the first singalong of the evening, as lovers cling to each other; the menacing rockabilly roadie snarling at the crowd. Hideaway is a banger, the scuzzed-up synth combining perfectly with the slinky bassline and Blaine’s winsome vocal. The Royal Daffodil now has the hyped-up energy of a mid July San Antonio booze cruise.
The new material does not seem as dancefloor friendly as most of the cuts from last album Twenty One, but from the new songs on display tonight, there will be plenty for Mystery Jets fans to sink their teeth into on their new record.
Closing with Behind the Bunhouse, the barnstorming final track from their last album, the band lead the charge back onto dry land and over to Ca Va for some chilli tequilas. Kapil bangs the bejeezus out of his drums, and ever the showman, puffs his chest out as he strikes a pose on his drum stool. The cruise down the Mersey has certainly been a triumphant return to form from Eel Pie Island’s number one pop combo. Just don’t mention Gerry and the Pacemakers….
Pictures courtesy of Chevrolet Spark Unscheduled Tour