Spacey Jane’s Victory Lap Has Only Just Begun

For most of 2020, Sydney’s Enmore Road felt eerily quiet. The usual packs of people cramming into the pubs and bars had vanished, and the grand theatre at its centre was dystopically empty. Until its recent reopening, bill posters from cancelled gigs from April and May 2020 were still papered outside, lending the entire vision a certain Walking Dead feel.

When the Enmore Theatre is alive, the road is alive. Sure, you can’t get a park anywhere to save your life, and if you do you’ll almost certainly get stung by parking rangers, and you’ll have to walk somewhat dangerously along the road, swerving around the crowds of people crammed outside the glowing entrance — but there’s a magic to it all, a hum and excitement that settles over the entire suburb as hundreds of people descend on the famous venue.

As with many things over the past year, it was a constant magic that you took for granted. And now, with the Enmore having roared back into life, it’s not one that anyone is seemingly willing to waste. Last night, as thousands of fans swarmed the theatre for two Spacey Jane sets over the evening, the entire road was almost at a standstill — eager kids munching on Manoosh and lining up for shots at the nearby pub The Duke.

The gig was a long time coming, with the Perth band having been subjected to the same rollercoaster of COVID restrictions and border closures as everyone else over the last 10 months. On top of that, last month lead singer Caleb Harper was forced to rest his vocals, causing more postponements and rescheduling — the Enmore shows were meant to happen last month, but will now stretch over the next week.

So when Harper stands on stage and says “Fuck it’s good to see you Sydney”, you believe him wholeheartedly.

This tour is the band’s victory lap — the heady success of single ‘Booster Seat’ and album Skin have made them one of Australia’s most in-demand bands, and their absence on the road over the last year has only served to rev the crowd up even more. The crowd is humming inside the Enmore — plumes of sickly sweet vape smoke bloom over people’s heads in the dark room, and it takes about 30 seconds before someone breaks into the festival singalong ‘Hey Baby (Uhh Ahh)’.

It’s a businesslike set from the four-piece — after opener ‘Skin’ and the respectful Acknowledgement of Country, they barely stop for breath, pumping through tracks like ‘Cold Feet’, ‘Good Grief’, ‘Love Me Like I Haven’t Changed’, and ‘Weightless’ with an almost clinical urgency. ‘Wasted On Me’ is a highlight, as is the surprisingly frenetic ‘Feeding The Family’. It’s a song Harper has told Music Junkee they don’t really enjoy playing anymore, but you wouldn’t know it: Peppa Lane and Ashton Hardman-Le Cornu grin from ear-to-ear and run at each other behind Harper, threatening to tear their guitars off their straps.

“We walked past here a couple of years ago, when Gang of Youths were playing like eight shows here,” drummer Keiran told the crowd. “We were doing all the cool Newtown things…looking in vintage shops, you know. And Caleb looked at us and said, ‘We’re gonna play there one day’. Now we have six shows here.”

It’s clear Harper has taken more than just venue choice from GOY frontman Dave Le’aupepe. Dressed in a tight white singlet, clutching and throwing his guitar, hips swinging, the influence of Le’aupepe’s onstage persona is obvious. He’s more Alex Turner than the shaggy-haired surfie bro you might expect from their press photos.

“I swear if I see another can getting thrown you’re getting kicked out.”

He’s also not willing to take any shit. When the crowd started to get a little too rowdy, and cans and bottle started to spiral through the air, he paused to have some words: “I swear if I see another can getting thrown you’re getting kicked out,” he warned, the crowd jostling and yelling in agreement.

The tracks are considerably bolshier here than they are on record, where they contain a fair bit of negative space. The energy is volcanic, but it’s relentless — by the 45-minute mark you’re wishing for a bit of light and shade — a reprieve before the next one-two punch. It’s compounded by the fact that Spacey Jane avoided experimenting with the arrangements of the tracks, apart from making them bigger and musclier. It was an opportunity gone begging.

All that said, it’s a minor quibble. The final run of songs was fan favourite after fan favourite: ‘Head Cold’, ‘Straightfaced’, and ‘Booster Seat’, before the crunching ‘Good For You’ ultimately closed out the night.

Back on Enmore Road, security tried in vain to hold back the hundreds of 20-somethings spilling out, with limited success. You get the sense Spacey Jane’s victory lap has only just begun.

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Spacey Jane are currently on tour — for all remaining dates and ticket details, head here. 

Jules LeFevre is the editor of Music Junkee. She is on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Charlie Hardy