50 years old and just out of the fountain of youth, the band presented itself for the first time in its new line-up at the invitation of the habfurt cultural office and unleashed a storm of enthusiasm among the fans.
I have never experienced this before: before the concert, five professional musicians were sitting around the table in the lounge, loving their food, and singing the song "lonesome loser" in five-part a capella for me. "So that you can hear what we sound like", jerry james explained. The sanger is a member of the band since this year and leads with gary reck (keyboards) and steve chapple (guitar) as well as the two other "newcomers" steve hyde (bass) and tuncay tercanli (drums) continue the tradition.
Prasent throughout Northern Bavaria
Founded in 1962 by helmut schmidt in wurzburg, "the jets" have become a new band developed over the decades into the most successful oldie band in northern bavaria. But after 50 years helmut schmidt, reiner egert and dieter marschall took their leave. "I am glad that with jerry, steve and tuncay we have found three such great musicians and singers. Because they keep the soul of the jets alive" she said, said helmut schmidt. The "soul consists for him of the singing, which can sound up to five voices. "Every musician has to be able to sing, too, because the oldies that the jets play are very vocal", says the bandgrunder, who to the delight of the fans still a short guest appearance with "pretty woman" completed.
"The jets play mainly songs from the 1960s to the 1980s that resonate with the audience. "After all, we perform for our listeners, so we make sure we meet their tastes", emphasized gary reck. "But at the same time we keep our musicianship", he added jerry james "and each one of us adds his personal touch to the playing." all in all, the unforgotten hits sound relatively true to the originals and yet are characterized by their own musical language. "We are happy that we can continue the history of the band and are already booked for 40 performances this year", said jerry james, who already as a singer of "push" and "light my fire" was known.
Passionate dancers
One of the many die-hard jets fans is 70-year-old elfriede rauch from habfurt, who regularly took the train to wurzburg and other jets venues for 20 years. "I'm as excited as I was before my first rendezvous", she told. "I love the music of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Because it reminds me of a beautiful time and I dance passionately to it." although the "old" one had expected, she was not disappointed. On the contrary: "the new musicians are very good. Especially when they play the old songs I know", praised them.
Thilo endrich from zellingen near wurzburg knows the band for about 30 years already. "I like the live music", he shared. "I'm fascinated by the rhythm and the beat of the oldies." the new lineup of the band already pleased him quite well. "However.", he remarked "the voices could still be polished a little better." inge barth from riedbach, who has already heard the jets a few times, found the "new" band to be very good sound "super". Andreas schmitt from habfurt came to the party with his partner to listen to the music of his youth again and because he wanted to dance. "The jets make good music, play the oldies in a technically perfect way and are good singers; especially jerry james has a great voice", so his happy conclusion.
The music of the band is mainly intended to spread a great mood. It's not only catchy, but also danceable: from the first song on, the audience danced enthusiastically until the early morning and sang along loudly to most of the songs. The "new ones" have the fire rehearsal jets therefore passed. Because they liked it so much, they wanted to play in habfurt again this year.