Australian alt-rock royalty Jebediah are back! And boy are they back with a bang, having blown the roof clean off The Corner Hotel, just for old time's sake.
Though their 30th anniversary is rapidly approaching, Jebediah are a band who have made it clear that they won’t be slowing down any time soon, and in fact are doing quite the opposite, breaking new ground with their latest LP OIKS. With Magic Dirt and Merpire in tow, this last Thursday was truly something special.
I wasn’t really sure what to expect getting into this; this is a band that makes my partner’s mum scrunch her nose up if you even mention them, and I wanted more than anything to know why. It seemed as though I couldn’t get a straight answer out of anyone I asked, as if people were embarrassed to have an opinion on them for some reason.
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First up on the bill was local songstress Merpire, an artist who has carved out a space for herself in the musical zeitgeist, singing sweet melodies about the love and loss in her life, music that sits somewhere in between the rom-com and horror sections of her psyche. Devastatingly beautiful, her music makes you feel like your feet may be drifting just a few centimetres off the ground.
Then came Magic Dirt, a band that couldn’t have blindsided me and my gig-going companion any harder, starting the set off with an extended noise jam complete with screeching distortion, giant walls of feedback and general sonic warfare: my jaw was on the floor.
And there it stayed, planted on the carpet of The Corner as the band tore through number after number, playing a mixture of old and new that kept everyone’s blood pumping. They were magnificent; rarely do you see a band that’s as calm and collected in the middle of a sonic freakout as they are making their way through an angsty love letter to an ex.
Finally, the moment we’d all been hanging out for came upon us, with Jebediah making their way onto the stage. It was striking to see a band that still somehow epitomised everything great about the 90s: the striped t-shirts, skinny jeans and that same characteristic lilt so synonymous with frontman Kevin Mitchell.
This band is just bundles of fun, playing with this energy that only a band like this could bring. A time capsule if you will, and a breath of fresh air like no other.
The love in the room was truly palpable, not just for the bands, but between the bands themselves and the people in the audience. The crowd was just the loveliest and everyone in the room sang so well. These are bands with a fan base just as dedicated as they are, and it really became evident that night.
It’s strange to think about it this way, but so rarely do we see a band and crowd with such chemistry like this – brining people from all walks of life and age groups together in one room, screaming along to the same songs.
It seems like a given, but it’s as though we’ve forgotten how to love in this post-COVID world, and bands like Jebediah are here to bring just a little of it back.
Check out what else is on at the Corner Hotel here.
