Jamie T - Candy's Apartment, Sydney

Last week I reviewed Jamie T's debut Sydney performance for The Drum Media. It was a top night:JAMIE T
THE HOLIDAYS
Candy’s Apartment, King’s Cross
08/05/07

While the evening was really all about one man from London, local boys The Holidays’ charming indie-pop was well received by the large crowd excitedly awaiting a solo performance from the man who is causing such a buzz in the UK right now.

I have never seen Candy’s more packed than when Jamie T took to the stage looking like the archetypal South London scallywag in a check shirt and baseball cap. In spite of his newly elevated profile, the young artist was wonderfully unassuming and between songs chatted affably to the crowd - constantly apologising for the fact that many of them couldn’t see him because he was sitting down, and also touching on such pressing matters as his unrequited love for Libby Kennedy from Neighbours.

Because he was playing without his band, he wasn’t able to perform some of his much-lauded debut album, Panic Prevention, so he padded out his short performance with some covers, including Billy Bragg’s A New England and White Man in Hammersmith Palais by The Clash, who, judging by his fascinating Joe Strummer-style vocal, are a big influence.While the covers were interesting, songs from his own repertoire really raised the roof. Salvador and If You Got The Money instigated massive singalongs, while Sheila amazingly sparked impromptu crowd-surfing. Who’d have thought that one man and his acoustic bass could cause such frenzied scenes?

Because there was just one vocal and a four-string bass playing compositions more suited to a full band, there was a lot of empty space in the songs which sometimes stuttered their flow. Fortunately though, this wasn’t a problem because the audience seemed to know his tracks backwards and happily joined the dots, even going so far as adlibbing the many samples that litter them. Before long it was less a solo performance and more a raucous singalong with Jamie T and roomful of new friends.

After the triumphant show, he handed out free mix tapes and promised to bring his band with him when he next comes to Australia. While it will be awesome to hear his eclectic songs in all their glory, it is also bound to occur in far less intimate surroundings, which will make the outrageously fun sing-along at Candy’s seem all the more special to those who were lucky enough to have been there.

My buddy Daniel took some much, much better photos of the gig, see them here