Little Red are the toast of Melbourne music – with more and more recent talent representing Western Australia, Little Red are bringing it home to Melbourne again. Their solid debut album, spectacular live shows and adoring fan base ensures a stable career ahead – they even have underwear merchandise. Tonight’s show at the Corner is the second (and sold out) Melbourne stop of three on their nationwide tour for their debut album, Listen to Little Red.

Introducing himself to the stage as Vince Noir and his band as The Mighty Boosh, Andy Bull’s soulful and enthusiastic groove pop won the early bird audience over with help from the front man’s cheerful personality. Stealing the set, however, were his bassist and drummer, duelling with their respective instruments, progressing from the funk laden rhythms into a harder, less malleable rock breakout. Andy Bull’s voice is something you have to see to believe. An extraordinary soul pop voice with a slight American twang (admittedly, at times sounding completely like a woman) belts out over Ben Folds-like piano, as a small horn section punctuate phrases whilst the aforementioned (and very talented) rhythm section bring the songs to life.

After hearing negative reviews of The Holidays prior to the show from various people, the Sydney indie-pop quartet impressed me with their Strokes/Arctic Monkeys musings. There was, however, something more powerful behind them; a certain rawness that brought out their youth and indie style. Front man, Simon Jones captivated the growing crowd with fierce energy and improved vocal abilities. If you haven’t sought to see these lads perform yet, you should get in before they become the next Little Red.

Little Red have undoubtedly led the most exciting life in the past couple of months touring as a support band, playing every festival this country has to offer and finally, headlining their own tour to much success. Ten months ago, you could dance and move freely at their gigs. These days, if you’re in the near vicinity of those delicious hooks and devilish boys, movement is restricted to either moshing or cautious shoulder shaking, highlighting the boom in fan base in such little time. This is testament to their live performances, musicianship and overall ability as a band.

Playing a set that held a sprinkling of tracks off their debut album, _ Listen to Little Red_ the boys in their suits showcased a generous amount of new material. It appears that they are providing a logical progression with both performance and sounds, supplying a more experienced hand with more objective input from outside. The new songs contain an air of Peter, Bjorn & John musical stylings with catchy melodies, sparse guitar lines dominated by exact percussive beats and solid bass work. This highlights that Little Red understand the limited sustainability of retro 60s revival music and are willing to mould themselves to become successful in countries like the UK that have already surpassed the genre. More notably, the band have obviously learnt to pace themselves during the set physically and musically, holding their cards close to their chest before allowing themselves to finish with a bang- throwing every ounce of energy left in them to the show, mostly during the encore piece, Coca Cola. This energy is the most attractive feature of Little Red; they maintain a down to earth relationship with the audience- front man, Dominic Byrne smiled to himself, every time he looked up and saw the crowded room singing along to his own words – obviously humbled and still not very used to hoards of adoring fans. The consistent crowd pleaser, Jacqui Cooper, received synchronised fist pumping actions from a vast majority of spectators whilst radio favourite, Witchdoctor set the flurry of late teen girls wild with bassist, Quang Dinh’s mellow crooning.

There were of course some minor things that affected the overall Little Red performance. It may be the looming date for drummer Taka Honda to be deported back to Japan, temporarily, but the famously cheerful drummer didn’t nod his head and smile as much as usual. Not to mention an unfortunate choice of headscarf accessory for guitarist, Adrian Beltrame. It was refreshing to see Tom Hartney, play the keyboard throughout the set. Having the keyboard shoved in the corner, however, meant that there were fewer calamities onstage than in the past.

Little Red’s live shows reflect the band’s personality – their grey suits drenched with sweet melodies and at times completely bursting by the seams with good old fashioned rock and roll that occasionally takes over in hotel accommodation on tour. A pleasure to watch and hear, Little Red’s epic adventure is far from over. I mean, come on, they’re on an ANZ ad for heaven’s sake!