Jamie T, Newcastle Academy
- Written by Lee Hammond
Jamie T is finally back with a new album Carry on the Grudge and it’s been worth the long wait. If anything just to have him back on the road with his explosive live show. Tonight, said live show rolls into Newcastle. Bringing with him band of the moment Slaves, who are here to tear the roof of any and every venue they can.
Slaves take to the stage first in rather visceral style. Yet another powerful duo a cheap comparison could be Royal Blood, however, we’re quick to note that Slaves are a lot more than that, they posses something which Royal Blood lack. Slaves have Isaac who has buckets of style charisma and one hell of a voice, Slaves set is mind blowing.
This is our first time in the company of the band; their hardcore punk is a real breath of fresh air. If nothing else, it blows the cobwebs away with its ear-splitting volume and tonight the guys are i particularly high spirits. They have a brilliant knack for writing great songs too ‘Girl Fight’ being a particular favourite. Arguably though the stand out track of the night has to be ‘Where’s Your Car Debbie’ which is preceded by an awesome tale of how the song was conceived.
Moving from the completely sublime and brilliant Slaves to Jamie T could have gone either way, there’s a real air of anticipation chants of Jamie! Jamie! Increase as the crowd become ever restless. As the anticipation reaches its height, the lights go down and on to the stage emerge his band, before he bursts out of the blocks and into the firing line of this heaving crowd.
He seems fired up and ready for a rowdy Monday night, we’re a little hesitant however, as its been so long. Any pre-conceptions are quickly dispelled as ‘Limits Lie’ rings out, Jamie is in fine form bouncing all over the stage. With a plethora of tracks from his back catalogue on show this evening, a personal favourite, ‘Salvador’, sounds as fresh as ever.
He delivers it with such a snarl there’s a purposeful ferocity in his delivery, it’s the opener to a few of Jamie’s older tracks. All of which possess something slightly different to his current output, the fire in Panic Prevention is now being channelled in a slightly different way. ‘So Lonely was the Ballad’ - another of these tracks – harbours grit and a fire. Though that’s not to say the newer tracks don’t have this.
‘The Prophet’ is a guitar-laden ballad which retains Jamie’s inimitable style whilst putting a different spin on it. He’s a multi-talented genius; he throws himself around the stage as the crowd replicate this. Bodies pour over the barriers as the opening chords to ‘Sheila’ ring out, and just this morning we were reading a review stating that he wasn’t playing his biggest hit on tour.
However, this evening ‘Sheila’ is back in force, to say the crowd went wild would be a humongous understatement. We’re truly in awe of this man's brilliance, and the track still sounds as good as the first time we heard it some seven or eight years ago. Its safe to say that Jamie’s work has not aged at all.
He saves his latest catchy number until the very end, as current monster hit ‘Zombie’ rings out throughout the venue. It’s a typical Jamie T single there is a huge hook and a chorus that will not leave our heads for days on end. As we leave we cannot help but hum Zombie all the way home, still totally enthralled by what we’d experienced.