CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS FROM COME TOGETHER HERE.

Whereas the Saturday of this festival focused on the more indie and alternative rock stylings of Aussie bands, the second day of the event was an entirely different matter altogether. With popular explosive live acts like Gyroscope and The Hot Lies gracing the bill, it was certainly a hard-hitting day for rockers – and possibly an earache for the scene folk still remaining from the day before.

If I may work backwards… The Living End is one of the greatest live bands in Australia. I’ve made this claim several times to disinterested onlookers, but I care not. Their set raged from their earlier, anthemic pop releases to some less than impressive newer material (look, guys – I just can’t get beyond Roll On ). If you haven’t seen The Living End yet, I strongly suggest rectifying this as soon as possible. Their live show, while mainly focusing on lead guitarist and general all-around cool guy Chris Cheney, also included the trademark double-bass spinning and powerhouse drumming of the band’s famed rhythm section.

Honourable mentions have to go out to Mammal, whose funk-flavoured metal was a welcome change in pace for the sweaty crowd in the Big Top. Post-hardcore enthusiasts would’ve been sore to miss Trial Kennedy, who really tapped into some instrumental-based atmosphere in their late afternoon set. Although, the tasteless sound checking occurring on the adjacent stage during their set was ridiculously off-putting. Here’s a tip, stage crews – if checking the levels of an electric guitar during another band’s set, maybe just consider playing something in the same key. Sure, the resultant mish-mash of sounds from the battling sources ended up sounding like an atonal masterpiece, but it really ruined Trial Kennedy’s extended ambient sections for me.

Other highlights of the day (ignoring the less than perfect weather) included the small but humble FasterLouder stage, promoting some of the lesser-known bands of the locale. And if you somehow missed out on where that stage was, you would’ve heard sound spillage from it if you at all cruised through the famed Luna Park Ice Cream Parlour. All that top-heavy feedback and blistering drumming seemed to send the teenagers there in droves.

If I could make any sort of criticism of this festival, it’s that it doesn’t seem to quite know what it’s going for. There were obvious highlights and surprises – in fact, my faith in balls-out Australian rock music has nearly been restored at this point – but overall, the line-up seemed vaguely weak and ill-thought out. Some of the bands scheduled earlier in the day inside the humid Big Top tended to leave me colder than that sandwich I accidentally dropped in the rain halfway through the day.

But the tail-end of the day presented Birds Of Tokyo, who cruised leisurely through a well-chosen selection of cuts from debut LP Day One, and upcoming sophomore effort Universes, featuring some surprisingly entertaining guitar work and lyrical content. Birds Of Tokyo are certainly a band to watch out for in future, especially with the recent airplay of new single Silhouettic reaching new audiences each day.

I’d like to extend a thank you to the weather, which remained vaguely grey and miserable all day, but chose not to break out into harsh rain too many times. Venturing out of the Big Top and into the forecourt and alleyways Luna Park is famous for showed me that as whiny as we’ll get in the wintertime, people are still willing to brave a bit of rain for a genuinely good time.