Cabins warmed the room with a full floor lapping up their time in the spotlight as the swaggering indie rockers with their left handed guitarist front man filled the gaps where casual chit chat between patrons would have been . A soft applause is given as a polite gesture of acknowledgement while people civilly walk in. This crowd was a youthful one, this is our generation, and with such influential bands as The Vines, we gather in communal adoration.

Wolf and Cub outsmart the room with style. This louder, prouder band enters with a flurry and hail of drum beats. “How is everybody, good?” Joel enquires. Hammers, progressive rock styling and effects laden riffs take us aback. The contrast between first support Cabins and Wolf and Cub is huge. They energize with a mad wave of ascending psychedelic pop style that is wild and quick. This was a much needed distraction to get these fans enthused and ecstatic while the booze seeped into the veins. Amazingly controlled mayhem contributed quite significantly to the overall feel of their show, they were like a pacified The Music riffing and riding us through a psychedelic maze only they could decipher. “Are we all excited to see The Vines?” Joel asks us a self explanatory question. This was a mesmerizing performance coupled with his occasional air kicks and twists, providing a brilliant vibe. Out comes the saxophone played by Marvin. “Vines?” Joel teases nonchalantly. “Well fuck it you will have to wait!” He adds before releasing with a second series of heaven conjuring rock still, it remained a fairly subdued crowd at this point.

Everyone had taken their positions to view these heavily redeemed guys of late. Their performance at Splendour in the Grass cemented them firmly back in the Australian music scene, and with the release of their fourth album Melodia this gig had sold out. As usual, patrons load up at the bar aware of the time it takes to get a good position, moving a little to the intermission music fittingly insisting “I been looking for something that I can’t see”. Craig emerges from the shadowy side stage, skittling around and disappearing around the stairs before a brief wave and shout of high spirits from us all. He babbles something about his Faith No More CD to be heard replacing the intermission audio. The elated Craig says “Thanks for coming; we will be back in five minutes”.

As promised, a short wait later, Craig descended the stairs with the band in tow, clutching his trade-mark cigarette and cola can. The first song we delight in is Manger, a short burst of energy that is followed by the rather standard first single He’s a Rocker to kick the night off. After Don’t Listen to the Radio and the wailing Jamola the onstage antics pick up. Autumn Shade 3 plays to a breezy wave from the crowd swaying around as Craig inhales with a sense of rebellion, puffs of smoke swirling. Highly Evolved plays to a mad mosh, but it’s the latest single Get Out that compels all into frenzy and an ascension of chaos as the first surfer flails over the scores of hands raised at the front.

Merry Go Round adds that extra texture and Homesick follows which further touches on the brilliant set choice. A wild solo has Craig immersed in his wacky world again, as he quips with a quick “I’m having a good time. You having a good time?” Brain Dead ensues and it’s maximum moshing with this killer, all partake in a song that is easy to rip up to. Next up, we have Getouttathaway which features Craig articulating the vocals a bit more prominently here albeit followed with his howls and wails, this is highly evident as the most upbeat, hyped song so far tonight. Craig flutters his fingers as he playfully falls about the stage, prompting and engaging the audience with all the charisma of the rock stars him and band are. “Thank you Melbourne, we love you” says Craig as he takes swig of cola.

As True of the Night from Melodia plays it is apparent that this gig differs from a usual Hi-Fi crowd, we aren’t merely throwing away the full experience by being wasted, and rather, the crowd appears inebriated by The Vines. Everyone is sweating it out by this time, pores opening up with vibrant intoxication. Craig then shows his humble appreciation before Ride is taken with a hit of speed and exhilaration, jumps, class and pure nirvana. To everyone’s disappointment and dismay it was a scrambled Ms. Jackson short lived and in true Nicholl’s style, abruptly ended with an intentional destruction of the song. He must have know how much we all wanted to hear it and it reminded me of Kurt Cobain’s occasional messed up performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit throwing the audience off, to which Craig says “That is our new single”.

Get Free goes off, and a highly exuberant crowd clap and whistle in adoration and ask for more as The Vines quickly go offstage and return within a couple of minutes after a quick tune-up. Craig grabs another can and cig and says “Thank you sincerely. We were all just talking back there, about how cool the crowd is so thank you”. Dope Train steams ahead at full pace. A kid seizes the opportunity and jumps onstage and makes a dive. The mellow genius of Vision Valley makes for a savoured performance and the use of repeat effects were a welcome approach while he laughs his way through the song with a minor screw up.” What were we playing?” Scream came next as he closes the gig in true Vines fashion. He smashes over the cymbal but saves his prized white electric guitar while saying “Thank you, New York city”. Thank you Craig, we love you too.