Normally Sunday night music events are limited in Sydney, but it’s been a big weekend for music with the Future Music and Playground Weekender festivals (and Golden Plains in Victoria). Tonight if you were in the mood to see live music you could have taken your pick from Cat Power at the Enmore Theatre, Tiger Army at the Metro or Future of the Left at the Annandale.

The opening acts at that quaint venue in the Inner West tonight are Talons and Dead Farmers. There’s a few similarities between the two, in that their both three-piece Sydneysiders that make a lot of noise.

Talons played a set full of stomping heavy riffs not unlike Boris, whereas Dead Farmers have a style focused towards harder punk riffs. Both bands played decent sets, although it was clear who the punters were here to see.

Mclusky disbanded in 2005, much to the disappointment of their followers. Things took a positive change when it was announced that Falco and Kelson would continue making music, this time as Future of the Left (The third Mcluskian Jonathan Chapple moved to Melbourne and formed Shooting at Unarmed Men ). The result was debut album Curses, released last year, which garnered much praise from critics and Mclusky followers alike.

Future of the Left opened their set with Kept by Bees, a song that builds momentum as Falco and Kelson chants, “There is nothing like being old, kept by bees in a jelly mould”, which quickly launched into the opening track off Curses, The Lord Hates a Coward.

The lads are in town to play the Golden Plains Festival, and they inform us that this is the last show of the tour, which may explain why between-song banter is plentiful and why they are in a highly animated mood. Or maybe everything is funnier when said with a Welsh accent.

Having released only one album, their set feels moderately short, even though they plow through a good 50 minutes of material, even dropping a new song in our laps. Watching this band tear through the set, I can see why their hardcore fans can get a bit obsessed. We are treated to musings of them dreading going back home, “where there is no sun”, we hear their opinion about Prince Harry the soldier and why everyone from outside of Sydney sucks.

It wasn’t just all banter, though. When they played they played hard – none of that more obvious than with powerhouse tunes Small Bones Small Bodies and Suddenly It’s a Folk Song, the throbbing bass and distorted guitar pounding through the thin Annandale floor.

For the encore we get treated to some classic Mclusky with Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues much to the delight of the head-banging, air-guitar playing dudes in my vicinity. As far as Sunday nights go, I can think of a lot worse ways to spend my time. Judging by the glowing of the crowd afterwards it’s hard not to feel part of something special, as this was a special gig. There’s no further proof needed that Future of the Left is the best thing to come out of Wales since Mclusky.