Street posters for The Big O depict a lifesaver’s floater ring. Shaped like a donut, or an – œO’, no one would have guessed the double entendre behind it.

Moving from Monash University to the Queensbridge Hotel made the mini-festival a lot easier to get to, seeing as QBH is quite a central venue, as opposed to the more suburban campus. The downside is that all the other events around Australia were held at university campuses, therefore defeating the original purpose.

Grievances about location aside, the night was shaping up to be a good one, with some of the most exciting bands in the local indie scene shaking things up downstairs, and the international guests upstairs on the main stage.

Sydney’s Cassette Kids kicked off proceedings on the tiny stage downstairs, front woman Katrina Noorbergen resplendent in sequinned leggings and her trademark heavily-lined eyes. Drawing heavily from their mini-album We Are, Cassette Kids were enjoyable without being entirely memorable; causing a shift in disillusioned audience members heading upstairs to wait for Ben Lee.

Starting a little later then planned, Ben Lee alone isn’t entirely remarkable. Ben Lee with a backing band is somewhat better. Lee opened the set imploring punters to stay at uni a little longer then he managed (a heroic two weeks) before launching into a mix of new Ben Lee, and crowd pleasing Ben Lee numbers.

Boy and the Barbie came replete with a little anecdote that possibly had punters finding Lee a little stranger then previously believed, but he did find redemption with Gamble Everything for Love and Catch my Disease, complete with references to the evening.

Back downstairs, the darlings of the local indie scene Yves Klein Blue continued their run of consistently enjoyable performances. Completely at ease with the intimate setting, Yves Klein Blue wasted no time in fitting in as many tracks from their debut Draw Attention to Themselves, frontman Michael Tomlinson mesmerising and freaking out punters with his at times disturbing facial expressions.

Predictably closing with – œPolka’, the band paused halfway to shout out to a young lad called Dan before continuing on their merry way, giving the Big O its first injection of energy for the night.

There was no doubt that many punters were there to see The Fratellis, who were insanely popular on their last visit to our shores, and walked on stage carrying the hype and anticipation from the crowd.

Somewhat typical of their style, punters were kept waiting.

And waiting.

When The Fratellis finally graced the QBH stage with their presence, they were almost everything one would expect them to be. Loud and energetic with a set full of crowd pleasers in hand. What no one factored in was the potential for the Fratellis to be not entirely memorable, which was a huge letdown. Bland and the Fratellis seemed to be mutually exclusive terms, yet tonight, they merged and solidified. Somehow the magic captured on their albums never quite makes it to the live arena, and whilst they managed to attract the biggest crowd so far, a fair handful of punters chose to sit downstairs and wait for Bluejuice instead.

Bluejuice were a strange fit. Kind of like putting the square peg into a round hole. Whilst downstairs was too small for the larger-than-life band, the openness of the main stage would have swallowed them whole. Jake Stone’s stage antics are unpredictable, not always welcomed but definitely highly entertaining. Maybe not for the eager punters lining the stage, who copped a spray of his beer, but for the rest who had hung back, Stone is a debacle in himself. Stav Yiannoukas is no different, doing his utmost best to maintain the shambollic atmosphere, at times surprising many with his talent of staring down punters whilst singing without any difficulty.

Antics aside, tracks from Problems kept the crowd dancing, albeit robotically. It isn’t long into a Bluejuice set that one begins to feel as if the stage madness is a little old. There’s a certain flair required to maintain madness at an interesting level, and Bluejuice are but a hair’s breadth away from grasping it.

The Music possibly had the biggest task of the night. Not only did they have to live up to their right as the headlining band, they needed to pull a rabbit out of their hats to ensure that the Melbourne leg of the Big O didn’t sink into a big, disappointed ‘oh’. Fortunately for punters, they were treated to an extended, high energy set from The Music, with front man Robert Harvey in a league of his own, dancing from side to side.

Drawing from almost their entire catalogue of works, including – œStrength in Numbers’, – œFreedom Fighters’ and – œGetaway’, those that were there to see The Music, enjoyed the best set of the night, despite the at times grainy sound quality. Ironically, it was a late night, finishing past midnight but the weary punters that staggered out of QBH appeared to have mixed feelings about the night. Maybe it was a ‘bargain’ price for a mini-festival. But no one really wants to be caught up in a sea of mediocre. Which most of tonight was, with the exception of Yves Klein Blue and The Music.

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