I spent my day at the local pub winning and then subsequently losing at 2 up, keeping my beer intake steady since I knew I was going out that night and didn’t want the show to fade into boozy oblivion.

The line outside the Metro was queued down George Street and the mixed crowd patiently waited (perhaps swayed, some of them hadn’t been as steady on the beers as I had) the half an hour for the doors to open so they could secure themselves a position near the front at the sell-out show.

Adelaide progressive rock band Mere Theory opened the night with their mix of Cog-ish heavy rock mixed with almost pop punk hooks. The four-piece act filled the space and were cheered and danced to by an almost full house. Either their song Stabilise has been flogged on radio or it is possibly the catchiest song I have ever heard. I am still humming the chorus.

If you have been to the Big Day Out or the Blues and Roots Festival over the last couple of years, you might have stumbled across American solo performer That 1 Guy, just as I did. Standing knee deep in mud at a festival, I craned my neck to try and work out how he was creating the sounds and playing them all together on what he calls his “magic pipe”. The same thing happened at the Metro, people were trying to get closer to work out how the hell this was happening, while moving their feet to the unstoppable funky basslines, and wolf howling when requested.

That 1 Guy sounds like the music of Nine Inch Nails doing spoken word with a few members of Parliament Funkadelic, who were all somehow combined into a single person who played what looks like a harp made out of pipes hooked up to all kinds of trigger do-hickeys.

There are too many cool songs to mention, and it is almost impossible to explain the live show – how he gets a bass sound out of a piece of pipe he was playing a piano concerto out of only minutes before. But I can’t go past mentioning when he started playing the hook from Sabbath hit Iron Man and all the punters sang the hook back to him. Or the final song, with the lyric “the moon is disgusting, it’s made out of cheese” complete with smoke machine outro.

There are probably a thousand or so Karnivool fans re-telling the wonders of That 1 Guy all around Sydney today. He definitely secured a whole new legion of fans, and it was particularly awesome to get to see an actual show line-up – instead of being forced to listen to three bands that sound almost identical, just not as good or as well known as the headliner. Kudos to Karnivool.

I managed to smoosh my way near to the stage to get to see the Perth boys’ entrance as the crowd opened their lungs and pretty much yelled for the entire set. The first thing I noticed was the huge light set-up, which made their amazing sound all the more unbelievable. However, I was also confused by the white and pink rollerskates on the amp on the left of the stage.

The second song in, we were treated to the remake of the Gotye classic The Only Way, giving drummer Steve Judd the ability to show off his syncopated drum skills, making a heavy rock track interesting and really beating the drums into submission.

The sound at a Karnivool show is probably the best I have heard from an Australian act – maybe even an international. They recreate their songs from CD with beautiful accuracy, but maintaining the raw energy and punch necessary for heavy rock. Ian Kenny is a born frontman, strutting around the stage, convulsing on the floor and letting his eyes roll back in his head. His strong voice manipulates the songs and weaves from lower intense notes to piercing perfect higher notes effortlessly.

The first half of the set focused heavily on their Themata album material, until they told us they were going to mix it up and have some fun with their newer material. Every Karnivool fan has been waiting for Ian Kenny, Drew Goddard, Mark Hosking and Jon Stockman to get their butts into the recording studio so we can add another album to our collection. The new stuff is what you want from a Karnivool song: heavy rock with the right light patches, guitar riffs and lyrically interesting. No songs were announced, the roar of the crowd determined whether it was new or old, with arms in the air punching out the chorus sung along with the band. I have no idea of the title – but I can describe it as the second new one (?) was a track that makes me want the new album all the more.

The encore was heralded by a drawn-out intro into Themata, with people running from their seats to get amongst it, and then the finale with the signature Karnivool track Roquefort. The random at the back of the crowd who screamed out in one of the few breaks from the onslaught pretty much summed it up for all of us – and I quote, “Dude, you guys fucken rock!”