Joe Jackson Band at the St James

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

The Joe Jackson Band arrived in town after Blondie stoked the New Wave nostalgia fires a few weeks earlier though Englishman Jackson and his original group weren't greeted with the sort of enthusiasm that Debbie Harry and her ring-ins received.

Jackson is a silver-haired chap with a face that finally matches his age. He looks very stylish on stage in his Teddy boy coat and presents as surprisingly tall.

But having not been a one-time pop sexpot, or ever considered particularly cool, meant the St James was only so full.

However, the JJB delivered the sort of performance that not only rewarded any lasting affection for his back catalogue, but also erased the cynicism about the nostalgia factor of the exercise.

It managed to be a crowd-pleasing wander down Jackson's musically haphazard memory lane, as well as springing some surprises care of a batch of fresh songs off a new album which echoed and enhanced his classic tunes from the winklepicker and skinny tie era.

It did start, however, a few years beyond that, with Jackson solo on piano for a wispy, stripped back version of Steppin' Out, the biggest and terribly 80s hit of his post-band career. Never liked it myself, but was thankful he got it out of the way early. And it showed immediately that the years haven't diminished his bittersweet voice.

Once his backing trio of drummer Dave Houghton, bassist Graham Maby and guitarist Gary Sanford assumed the position, it was all on, whether they were galloping through new song Take It Like A Man, with its chugging ska bass and latin piano-pounding, or reviving the surf guitar reggae silliness of Beat Crazy.

And after the compulsory crowd-participation version of Is She Really Going Out With Him?, it was back to a solo Jackson at keyboard for a mid-set spot of considered balladry during which you could hear the contrast between the fresh edge of new songs like Love at First Light and the second-nature renditions of Be My Number Two, or Real Men. The latter was unusually popular in Australia, he joked.

From there it was high gear, all the way to the encore. That included a whiplash-paced Got The Time, Don't Want to be Like That and an incendiary version of I'm the Man.

Pop history may have passed Jackson by of late, but to hear him and his old mates reclaim their little corner of it was really quite something.