Headless brides, zombies, vampires and serial killers – although it wasn’t a party, The Tivoli had its fair share of gruesome Halloween schlockness in attendance for The Vines on the Brisbane stop of their Melodia tour.

Frontrunners Stature:Statue have obviously benefitted from working the local support slots recently, delivering a much tighter performance than others in their modern history. Fast, shouty and brimming with energy, their raucous nuevo-punk sound wasn’t as ear-piercingly arduous as previously experienced, demonstrating what a decent sound system will do for a band. From this point on however, the sound was a problem for anyone who doesn’t like their live music drowned in bass.

Wolf and Cub used to be one of this reviewer’s favourite bands to see live. With two complete drum kits on stage, the duelling beats would become totally tribal as Joel Byrne’s psychodelic vocals weaved swirling tapestries in between. Unfortunately at this gig, the promise of these experiences being reprised wavered with the end of their first track. There was very little complexity in the beats or the vocals, leaving the majority of the set lacking and by the last track the promise was still unfulfilled. It’s unknown if the change can be attributed to the exit of original drummer Adam Edwards, but when Joel Carey and new drummer Marvin Hammond were belting out the same rhythms and fills, the two drums seemed wasted. With the volume on the kick drums and bass drowning Byrne’s guitar and the vocals verging on oblique sameness, each number melted into the next with very little differentiation. At one point it became monotonously repetitive, bassist Thomas Mayhew’s trance-like swooning supporting overheard punter commentary that it was “like being at a bush doof”. It was such a shame and although the crowd was generous, the somewhat dulled applause from a reasonably full dance floor was reflective of the unusually underwhelming performance from these once inspired lads.

Looking around at the crowd, it could have been argued that this was the first chance that the kids who loved The Vines years ago had to legally witness them live in a licensed venue. The demographic was decidedly young considering the time and place of the headliner’s heyday. Additionally, while it was expected that Halloween parties would dent the turnout, the amount of personal space on offer was genuinely surprising.

That being said, once Craig Nicholls and the boys bounced onto the stage to a nice little electro polka number, it was standing and moshing room only at up the front. Opening with new track Manger, high tempo tracks He’s A Rocker and Don’t Listen to the Radio stirred up enough enthusiasm to launch a number of crowd surfers into the air – only to be quickly pulled down and ejected by similarly enthusiastic security staff. “Ah hello!” said Nicholls while removing his shirt, “it’s great to be back in the best fuckin’ venue in Brisbane on Hallooweeeeeen!”

The set that followed was the usual peaks and troughs of high-energy guitar screeching rock angst hits and plaintive caterwauling ballads that The Vines live shows are so (in)famous for. Autumn Shade’s languid ebb and flow was hastily tidied up by the iconic riffs and screams of Highly Evolved, again whipping the front pack into a mess of popcorn snapping bodies. Seemingly wanting to keep the crowd measured and controlled, the energy then dropped again as circling tendrils of white light, mesmerizingly opaque like sunlight through water, reached deep into the crowd and a stirring rendition of Homesick calmed the room.

Throughout the night feet were in the air, the disco ball was thrown into the crowd, Nicholls was jumping and screeching and those in the middle of the dance floor were having fun, but this was not The Vines at their best; mainly due to the appalling sound mixing mentioned earlier. While Nicholls guitar work was good and the band was as tight as fishes’ asses, the bass levels were so high that it was shaking the ground, reverberating at the back of the room and distorting the speakers. Teamed with a voluminous kick drum, the treble was almost completely drowned, muddying the vocals and dampening the guitars. At one point rhythm guitarist Ryan Griffiths indicated to front of house that Brad Heald’s bass needed to be turned down, but his fervent earthward finger pointing was seemingly too difficult for the engineer to understand.

There were also some issues maintaining crowd engagement. On more than one occasion, a couple of the ballads were played in succession, including a misfired reprise of Outkast’s Hey Yah that, due to the liltingly slow tempo, resulted in most people chatting through it or making their way to the bar. However, as you would expect, Outtathaway, Ride With Me and Get Free saved the night, raucously belted out with eye brutalising strobe and cool space invader bullet lighting effects. And, true to form and not wanting to disappoint, at the end of the encore Nicholls launched his guitar high into the air a couple of times, letting it drop then swinging it around above his head and smashing it into the stage.

For this reviewer however, while this was all expected, after the brilliance of their recent performance at Splendour in the Grass, this gig just didn’t have the goods and the closing theatrics came off as passé. So, trick or treat this Halloween? I think I’ll savour the treats offered earlier this year thanks boys… save the tricks for the kids.