Jet Drummer Chris Cester Won't Be Joining The Band's Australian Tour

Aussie rockers Jet are preparing for their huge Get Born 20th anniversary tour, but yesterday, the band revealed that drummer Chris Cester wouldn’t be joining them for the upcoming run. The gigs were touted as their first full-band shows in five years.

The tour commences on Friday, 22 September, at Melbourne’s Forum Theatre, followed by Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide, on Saturday, 23 September, Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on Friday, 29 September and finally, the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on Saturday, 30 September. Special guests Pacific Avenue will join them at all shows.

Next Wednesday (20 September), Jet will perform a special warm-up show at The Night Cat in Fitzroy, Melbourne, with special guests Neon Goblin.

“Breaking news…sadly, Chris (who lives in LA) won’t be making it out for the Aussie shows in September due to family reasons,” Jet wrote on Instagram yesterday (13 September).

The statement continued, “He will be missed but we wish him well and greatly look forward to having him back on board real soon. In the meantime, Brisbane and Adelaide shows have almost sold out so here’s your LAST CHANCE to score tickets!”

At the time of writing, the band haven’t announced who will replace Cester on drums.

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Jet’s debut album, Get Born, was absolutely massive in Australia and featured the hit singles, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Rollover DJ, Look What You’ve Done and more. The album saw Jet score six ARIA Awards and was certified nine times platinum in Australia, making it one of the top five highest-selling Australian rock albums of all time.

After Get Born, Jet released Shine On in 2006 and their third album, Shaka Rock, in 2009.

Jet disbanded in 2012 but eventually reformed in 2017, accepting a mega opening slot for Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band during their sold-out Australian tour. Since then, they’ve toured infrequently across Australia and internationally.

Fitzroy’s The Night Cat, the site of Jet’s warm-up show, holds just 475 punters. For context on how small that is for Jet, the band’s sold-out concert at the Forum in Melbourne’s CBD just two days later holds up to 2,000 standing attendees.

While their Forum gig is sold out, you can buy tickets to the remaining Jet gigs here.