Tennis opened the night with their set of taut, melodic synth rock. I don’t know how the kids got into the venue – they all looked to be in their mid-teens – but they did a decent job of emulating their favourite sounds and stage moves.
Next up came Chaingang, who’s recent (and probably only) claim to fame was supporting Panic At The Disco the week before. They had they exact same set up and sound as Cassette Kids from last year – a band I hoped I’d never have to see again. Bringing together all the worst elements of the Divinyls and Blondie, they skeezed their way through an set of droll, indefinable songs.
Having spent the weekend before playing shows in Melbourne, Traps were more than ready us why they’d garnered so much support and airplay of late. They fired off first with a song off the EP they were launching that night and kept up the pace of dancable hook-laden riffs and melodies. The singer’s sense of dynamic and melody brought the songs into sharp focus as he tore through the songs. Two songs in, the drummer had smashed in his kick-drum and another was brought in to replace it amid much silly banter. From there the band could have completely lost face or failed to pull the audience back in. But they shot straight into another number and didn’t let up from there, finishing on “Common Errors,” a theme which the band seemed to avoid almost completely that night.
