“A Blistering Pop-Rock Blueprint That Will Excite Even Those Who Haven't Read No Logo” Live Review: Jetplane Landing - Whelans on 20/10/03

Jetplane Landing are a rock group lumbered with what New Yorkers might call issues, but that is not so remarkable nowadays. What sets the Anglo-Irish quartet apart from the nu-metal pack is their ability to inject emotional depth into such thematic clichés as fear of gloabalisation and distrust of authority.

The band have bludgeoned a path through post-grunge orthodoxy without sacrificing a passion for inconsequential pop music that cannot be concealed no matter how many buzzsaw guitars and screeching vocals are poured into their songs. I Opt Out, the opener, hit you like a sonic manifesto, polemical and mad as hell yet taut with melody.

As the show progressed Jetplane Landing seemed to grow angrier and angrier. Singing in an dusky growl, frontman Andrew Ferris flung vitriol at his twin bugbears of conformity and capitalism. At his side Cahir O'Doherty and Jamie Burchell threw out power chords and snarling hard-core licks while Raife Burchell attacked his drums as if determined to sprain something.

A borderline-metal band hefting a towering social conscience might sound about as enticing as an appointment with your orthodontist. So credit Jetplane Landing for the self-awareness to corral their rage within a blistering pop-rock blueprint that will excite even those who haven't read No Logo.

© Irish Times 2003