Apr 25 2008 4:44 pm,
4.5
Mystery Jets
London, The Scala
24/04/2008
The Fly fell slightly in love with
London band Golden Silvers last night, aptly supporting the magnificent Mystery Jets. The powerpop winners of the Glastonbury New Talent Competition entered the stage equip with majestic three part harmonies and this strange fusion of noise that sounds something like The Rapture, vocals by Joe Strummer, playing 2008 covers of The Knack. The Fly isn’t sure if that’s an apt description - but whatever the fudge it was - it was a glorious drum-roll for the Jets.
After 30 minutes of running around every level of the venue desperately seeking a slit of space to see the band, we find a tiny gap next to the sound desk. The Fly, our powers dwindling, are just in time to hear the signature World War II air raid sirens blare from the smoky stage of The Scala. The Mystery Jets arrive on cue, firing out ‘Hideaway’ - the first track on their sophomore album ‘21’. After a perfect rendition of ‘Young Love’ where
Blaine tonight plays the part of Laura Marling, he exclaims “It’s so good to be home”. And I think the crowd agrees. The gig feels like some Mystery Jets ‘biggest fans convention’, with a mass of pogoing devotees in the middle and the shyer/lazier fans standing around the edge lip-syncing every word. After Blaine’s Jeff Buckley-esque opening to ‘Flakes’ the audience unite in a pissed-up brawl, drowning their lost-love sorrows as a collective. And then ‘The Boy Who Ran Away’, begins, sending the audience into a frenzy of arm punches and nostalgia. Mid-way through the band’s new single ‘Two Doors Down’, Jack Osbourne comes on stage to play a sax solo in an appropriate 80’s style. It wasn’t really Jack but when his cheeks were puffed out it looked a bit like him. From far away. In the dark. Anyway, the band’s penultimate song, ‘You Can't Fool Me Dennis’ was made 1000 times better by bassist Kai declaring, “We've got a very special guest now, and he looks like Gandalf from Lord Of The Rings”. And special it just is, Blaine’s father Henry returns to the stage like the old days, playing the tambourine and looking like he’s been gagging to get back on stage for months.
Through the agony, the ecstasy and the elation, it might have been a tight squeeze to get in but there is most certainly a large gap in our hearts for The Mystery Jets.
Harriet Gibsone
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