Nic Cester was pissed off when Jet broke up. After fronting the most successful international Australian rock act of the 21st century Jet went down in a ball of falls, disintegrating in a sea of politics.
Cester was so burnt by the crash that it took seven years for him to want to even try anything new. The result is his debut solo album ‘Sugar Rush’, an album every bit as innovative of the first Jet record.
Jet’s ‘Get Born’ conjured up sounds influenced by the music Cester and the band listened to as kids. In many ways ‘Sugar Rush’ is similar in its diversity but different in its ‘ground zero’ of influences.
Instead of going back to his favourite Beatles, Stones and AC/DC sounds as he did on ‘Get Born’ Cester has taken more modern day 21st century production sounds and merged them with 70s Led Zep, Hendrix and various psychedelic sounds to deliver an album completely removed from Jet.
‘Sugar Rush’ is a totally new skin for Cester. You can hear the range of his influences in the first four completely different songs.
It was no wonder that Nic decided to keep his showcase gig completely Jet-free. His gig at Melbourne’s Memo Music Hall in St Kilda showcases an all-new Cester 2.0. ‘Sugar Rush’ is a reinvention and it is very, very good.
Nic played the album from start to finish. There was no encore, no Jet songs, no covers. This show was a statement. The statement was ‘Now’.
The show was also a homecoming for Cester who said he lived a few blocks away from the venue for five years but had never been inside. (Fun fact: Memo Music Hall was the Armstrong Studios in the 60s. The Easybeats and Normie Lowe recorded in the same room where Cester was playing).
Nic’s mother was in the audience. So was former Jet bass player Mark Wilson.
Nic Cester setlist, Memo Music Hall St Kilda, 2 November 2017
NB: The set was the Sugar Rush album from start to finish.
1. Sugar Rush
2. Eyes On The Horizon
3. Psichebello
4. Hard Times
5. Strange Dreams
6. Who You Think You Are
7. On Top Of The World
8. God Knows
9. Not Fooling Anyone
10. Little Things
11. Neon Light
12. Walk On
