With band members thrashing around silhouetted against a wall of light, Violent Soho make for an auspicious opening band, their sound even more powerful and punishingly loud in the live context.
Taking cues from the power of Nirvana’s deathless In Utero, the Brisbanites rip through an energetic set of old favourites like ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ as well as newer material like the turbo-charged ‘Tinderbox’.
Promising a new record in 2013, signs are positive based on this display, with highlights including ‘Neighbour Neighbour’ which lurches into action before kicking up a gear with an explosive chorus.
Proud of their origins as ever (a T-shirt at the merch stand shows their Mansfield postcode in a cheeky nod to the Beverly Hills 90210 logo), they remain a force as they approach a decade of being a band.
This is exactly the right crowd for them as well and their energetic abandon is matched by enthusiastic punters moshing like 1997 never ended.
Like Violent Soho, Cloud Nothings show a healthy influence from noisy, messy 90s rock, opening with the infectious lo-fi snarl of ‘Fall In’ and rarely taking the foot off the pedal from that blistering start.
Led by 22 year old wunderkind Dylan Baldi, they already have three accomplished albums to their name but their latest, last year’s searing Attack On Memory, is their best to date.
The title refers to a desire to obliterate the band’s past and smash any preconceptions of the group and it’s fuller, much heavier sound represents a successful goodbye to the group’s origins as basically being Baldi’s one-man bedroom project.
These songs are high on urgency, low on fussy detail. They sound like they were written quickly and committed to tape before there was any chance of their rambling ferocity or spontaneity fading out.
‘No Future/No Past’ is proof positive the new approach is bearing fruit; it’s an energetic statement of intent, the ominous opening chords giving way to a mood of dread and inertia.
The terrific ‘Our Plans’ is a much sunnier proposition, again showing Baldi’s remarkable knack for writing melodies that stick. Fleshed out by some rough and ready harmonies, it’s among their best songs to date.
‘Wasted Days’ is something else entirely and the closest they’ve ever come to writing an epic.
It’s a sprawling affair, a furious melody giving way to a detour through the kind of rhythmic, pounding instrumentation heard on the Buzzcocks’ krautrock-influenced ‘Fast Car’.
‘Stay Useless’ is just about the fan favourite, with bodies slamming into each other and crowd surfers being hoisted above sweat-soaked punters as the band rattles through its fizzing pop hooks and furious riffing.
At the end of the set proper, nobody’s in the mood to go anywhere and the encore delivers, with the jagged ‘Turning On’ keeping the raucous energy high.
They save the best for last though with the awesomely catchy ‘Leave You Forever’, a song missing from their excellent Laneway Festival set. A kind of irresistible crash of lo-fi punk with a one-syllable doo-wop refrain, it’s a fitting full stop to a riotously sweaty and hugely satisfying show.
