Review: Jebediah at Freo.Social

Jebediah at Freo.Social
w/ Magic Dirt, Lonesome Dove Duo
Friday, July 12, 2024

This is a line-up teenage dreams are made of. Two of Australia’s best-ever bands reuniting for a lap around the country, roughly thirty years since their incarnations. A sold-out stop at Freo.Social saw indie elders dusting off their converse for a night of singalongs to Magic Dirt and Jebediah.

Lonesome Dove make music not dissimilar to the aforementioned acts during their early 00s peak. Tonight it was just Nici and Ben in duo mode, and although it would have been fun to see the full band, they did a great job as a pair. Ben knows his way around a guitar and flexed his vocal chops in a couple of songs, including the lyrical standout First Date. Sixteen was another highlight, with Nici reminiscing about listening to Jebediah when she was that age. A half-hour set was just enough to whet everyone’s appetites for Magic Dirt.

In exciting news for fans, it looks like Magic Dirt will have a new album soon! The first in over a decade. The new tracks they played, Ghost in the Wall and Ice Age Number Seven, went over really well. They sounded like they could have been plucked off What Are Rockstars Doing Today.

However, it was the classics, like She-Riff and Plastic Loveless Letter, that really thrilled the crowd. Their set traversed many of their releases and showcased their genre-straddling. Heavier songs like Ice, mesmerising and overwhelming in the best way, made way for pop songs like Dirty Jeans or ballads like All My Crushes, which Adalita dedicated to Jebediah. Not to forget the rockstar antics, like Raoul playing guitar behind his head and Adalita just being an icon in general. At one point, someone in the crowd threw up devil horns unironically.

A Jebediah gig on home turf is something everyone should experience. Perth crowds are definitely loyal, and the excitement was palpable. Opening with Motivation from their new album OIKS, it was the follow-up Military Strongmen that got the crowd frenzied. Still an absolute cracker, it was a sign that we would be treated to some hits.

The band were truly on form; it was like watching them twenty years ago. How do they maintain that energy?! Perhaps it was the promise of getting to play new material—OIKS being their first LP in thirteen years! As Kevin explained, OIKS are a gang of troublemakers, “so let’s all be OIKS tonight!”

It was awesome to see how well these new songs were received. Not only was there plenty of dancing, but there was at least one woman headbanging. (I hope your neck was okay the next day!) New one IWANNAGETOUT is definitely worth a listen. Speaking about the new album, Kevin also said, “If you had told us in 1995 we would make a record that people actually buy and sell out this room, we wouldn’t have believed it.”

Naturally, songs like Control and Animal had huge responses, but it was Harpoon that enveloped the room in the kind of mushy, singalong unity only a song like that can stir up. Other treats included Please Leave, She’s Like A Comet, and what would a Jebs gig be without Jerks of Attention and Leaving Home, both in the encore? It may have been thirty years since Jebediah first got together, but their music is timeless, and it looks like OIKS will be another stallion in a very, very strong stable of albums.

SHANNON FOX

Photos by Linda Dunjey