Live Review: Jamie T, High-Tails

It’s rough being the unknown support for a headline act so highly anticipated as Jamie Treays.

So kudos where it’s due, local lads High-Tails did their best, with a rollicking indie set that occasionally shimmered with promise but wasn’t exciting enough to truly capture attention.

Pure euphoria with a dash of mania best describes the greeting Jamie T received upon arrival. Five years away and the fan ferocity was at fever pitch; bodies flung themselves about to the decidedly understated openers of Limits Lie and Don’t You Find. Treays is an adrenaline-soaked performer with jittery jumps and a penchant for practically swallowing the mic, knees permanently bent inwards like a ‘50s rock star. There’s a glorious marriage between his newer material and that from the Panic Prevention days, wherein he maintains the gait and style of a guitar-wielding fiend but throws out the breakneck speed lyrics of Operation or Pacemaker with practiced gusto.

He kept the banter to a minimum, probably for the best considering he crammed 19 songs into his set, each earning more voracious applause than the next. There was an inescapable feeling of hurtling towards a big finish; as Treays blasted through Salvador, British Intelligence and the newbie Rabbit Hole, you couldn’t help but think ‘How does he top this?’ Then he would, leaping atop speakers, beckoning to the crowd while they replied with singalongs. When the first chords of If You Got The Money struck, Treays prowled the stage and his every word was thrown back to him thousand-person strong. As if that weren’t enough, the encore saw him thrill in his rocker guise with Zombie before ending on the anthemic Sticks ‘n’ Stones, voices reaching the ceiling to sing, “Let’s go out and find some trouble!”