Jebediah @ The Factory Theatre 27 May

The last time I remember seeing Jebediah live was back in 1998 at the Annandale Hotel. It was off the back of their debut album Slightly Odway with their most famous and recognised songs, ‘Leaving Home’, ‘Teflon’ and ‘Harpoon’. Seemingly popular with teenagers in the late 90’s, this fun, alternative rock band from Perth had a strong Australian following booking festivals like Homebake and the Big Day Out and playing as support acts on tour with The Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and Everclear.

In 2005 the band took a break and frontman Kevin Mitchell set out to do a solo project under his pseudonym Bob Evans – releasing the album Suburban Songbook. After a 5 year hiatus the members of Jebediah reunite to write new music and record their next album Kosciuszko. With the success of the album’s lead single ‘She’s Like A Comet’ on high rotation across the airwaves and their highly anticipated return to stage Jebediah set off their national Australian tour playing in all the capital cities in 2011.

I caught Jeb’s Sydney show at the Factory Theatre in Marrickville back on Friday 27 May. My first time at this music venue, I was pretty impressed with the size and the intimate nature of the performance space which gives all punters great views of the stage from any vantage point. Arriving late meant I missed the support acts but that was fine because I was happy just to hear Jebediah’s new hits with the hope of nostalgic moments that would take me back to my youth with all the old favourites.

The band members, Kevin Mitchell, Chris Daymond, Vanessa Thornton and Brett Mitchell filled the stage quietly and opened the set with ‘Lost My Nerve‘. Mitchell greeted the crowd with a quick slip into the track ‘Control’ which gets the crowd warmed up. Keeping the momentum going with a few more new songs, the band powered through the catchy new tracks ‘Under Your Bed’ and ‘High (Horse)’.

The chatty Kevin Mitchell breaks the set to thank the crowd for the continued support over the past 16 years and for coming out to the gig that night. Mixing old with new the band kicks on with ‘Please Leave’, ‘To Your Door’, ‘Fall Down’, She’s Like A Comet and ‘Benedict’. Drawing the to the end of the set the crowd is ramped up and the band is equally excited, closing with old favourites ‘Harpoon’, ‘Animal’ and the newbie ‘Oxygen’ before leaving the stage for the encore.

The cheering and stomping for Jeb’s encore return was relentless. Mitchell was clearly delighted with the crowd’s response, grinning happily and proclaiming that this was the best crowd on the tour so far. For long time fans, the final two songs of the night were the big hits ‘Leaving Home’ and ‘Jerks Of Attention’. These were the songs that satisfied the nostalgia of the band’s phenomenal emergence into the 1990’s Australian music scene with neither song having lost any impact since that time.

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