From The Jam - Sydney - March 10 2024

More nostalgia, this time from a couple of years before my previous upload. May 1977 and The Jam’s ‘In the City’ is the third (or maybe fourth … after The Damned, The Clash and maybe The Stranglers) punk album I buy. All bought totally unheard and unknown. It’s easy to forget now just how revolutionary those early punk albums were to the stale music scene at the end of the ‘70s, and while it was happening on the other side of the world, I was soon swept up in it. I had the privilege of seeing those other three bands back in their heyday, but sadly, The Jam never toured Australia.

From The Jam finally gave me the opportunity to hear their songs live. I don’t care whether or not they’re ‘just a cover band’. They sounded bloody great, and for much of the time, I couldn’t tell the difference. Russell Hastings’ vocals effortlessly matched those of Paul Weller, and Mike Randon was outstanding on drums. And of course, Bruce Foxton’s presence made them much more than ‘just’ any old tribute band.

The venue was packed. Most of us had been hoping to have seen them in 2022 when they were scheduled to play a much bigger venue. Unfortunately, that tour was cancelled due to health problems. This visit was a special effort to make up for that cancellation and to say their goodbyes. A total of 18 songs were played of which I recorded ten:

Saturday's Kids (00:16)
Heat Wave (04:21)
Lula (07:42)
English Rose (11:37)
All Mod Cons (13:40)
To Be Someone (Didn't We Have a Nice Time) (14:56)
Beat Surrender (17:22)
The Eton Rifles (21:11)
Going Underground (26:55)
In the City (30:47)

A really terrific performance with a few poignant words of goodbye from Russell and Bruce at the end. And for me, what better way to go out than with the title track of their first album, taking me right back to my introduction to punk.