Very few bands have made such large strides over such little time as The Jezabels. They’ve toured the country over, made two trips over to North America, with a slot at SXSW festival, all in support of their latest release, their Dark Storm EP.
Tonight, they are playing a sold out show at the Metro Theatre. As we wait for the room to fill, We Say Bamboulee, come out to warm up the crowd. The band are clearly young but the sound they produce is rife with energy and is taken up by the few people there to hear it. They’ve been making a name for themselves over the recent months and after tonight, I’d say are a band to definitely keep an eye on.
The second support of the evening is Ernest Ellis. I’ve only heard great things of him since his spot supporting Florence + The Machine last August and tonight I can see why. He performs with a passion that on any other band would seem uncomfortably forced out like a tactical spew as you stumble out of King’s Cross but on Ellis, you can see and hear that is a genuine feel for his music. Though he lacks in his ability to interact or connect with the crowd, his set is as good as you could wish for on a night like tonight.
But at the end of the day, the crowd is filled with the cult followers of one of Sydney’s better, if not best, musical collectives, The Jezabels. Tonight’s show is a far cry from any other performance of theirs that I have ever seen. As the curtain is drawn and the lights go up, we are given a little musical intro from the band as frontwoman, Haley Mary calmly walks to the centre of the stage. The quartet jam for a few minutes before kicking the night off with “The Man is Dead.”
The level of production behind this show shows how far this band has come. With the stage and light set up paired with the band’s calm yet powerful stage presence, the entire Metro Theatre is in awe. There is no standout song of the evening because every song drives the crowd wild, sending up a roar of excitement that “they are actually playing this song.”
There was only one moment of absolute silence in the night, and that was at the preview of a new song. Beside the fact that no one knew the words to sing a long to, unlike every other song, every single person was eager to get a taste of what the band have been working on in the writing of their debut LP.
I’ve never struggled so much when trying to put a show into words but tonight’s performance was something else. Every member of the band gave it everything they could to put on the best possible show for their loyal fans. Heather Shannon’s keyboards blended with Sam Lockwood’s creative guitar style, creating a perfect harmony that echoed into the night. Driving it all, Nik Kaloper looked as if he was about to explode in a fury of drumming like you’ve never seen outside of Travis Barker drum solos.
In an uncharacteristic act for The Jezabels, they returned to the stage to perform a two song encore because they crowd just wouldn’t leave. Everyone wanted more and they weren’t going until they got it. Ending the night with She’s So Hard and Old Little Girls was like the shot of Café Patron at the end of an already delightfully intoxicating night. The only difference is, no one is going to forget tonight.
