Ten East headlined what should have been a great night of rock, supported by one of Melbourne’s best bands, and one who we are all being told is one of Melbourne’s best bands. It was certainly a bit of an odd night Thursday at Northcote Social Club.

Hotel Wrecking City Traders are one of the best rock bands in Melbourne. The fact that there are only two of them makes it all the more impressive, as they produce a wall of sound that is simply awesome. Playing a tight set of only four well constructed and rehearsed songs, HWCT manage to deliver each song in a way that almost sounds like a random, ill directed jam that seems to go on forever. Yet the energy and song structure always shines through, allowing the carefully constructed layers of each song to rise above what many would call a mere – œjam session’. And if the drummer nearly lost the plot at various points, it was always caught it time, serving only to make the set more manic, energetic and honestly, better.

I am not sure what I expected of all girl five piece Beaches, but I know they did not deliver. Plagued by sound issues from before the set had even started, the entire performance was comprised of one ill timed mess after another. Despite the fact that they did seem to get better towards the end, it was never good. The polite applause between songs indicated maybe I wasn’t the only one killing time. Four microphones provided disparate, toneless talking and yelling (but never singing) from three guitarists and one bass player, all seemingly in their own worlds. Nail biting, furtive glances across stage and a distinct lack of energy were not helped by a drummer who seemed to be counting the beats in her head as she attempted to hold the songs together.

After the requisite elongated pause between support and headline act, Ten East calmly took the stage to unleash their own take on the stoner/punk/desert rock genre in front of a healthy and quietly excited crowd. Including members who apparently help to invent the genre, and some of those who continued its progression, Ten East launched into what was an impressive set of heavy, melodic and pleasingly loud rock. Genres aside, there were many influences in each song, from Sabbath through punk and metal to the stark desert itself. Many may have tried to come close to perfecting this brand of heavy rock (indeed Kyuss did perfect their own version, but imploded soon after), but Ten East are clearly one of its better exponents. Despite limited chatter from the band (there were no microphones on stage), a connection began to form between the band and the crowd, who were all there for the same reason – the songs, and the music. The set did seem to drag on a little, but you could put that down to attention span rather than the band. In any case Ten East delivered a more than decent set of fucking heavy, often melodic, and always tight songs that they clearly enjoyed playing, and the fans clearly enjoyed jamming along to. The inevitable rains of Meredith are some ways from the heat of the desert, but those kids don’t know what they’re in for this weekend. Ten East will no doubt blow them all away.

CHECK OUT THE PIX FROM THE SHOW HERE