Opening act Washington were so so. The thing about them was that their songs were actually rather awesome but they had absolutely no stage presence whatsoever. If you’re warming up a crowd for Patience Hodgson, you’re not going to win hearts by standing still and only moving your arms to strum your guitar. Although singer, frontwoman and namesake Megan Washington did attempt to dance, it was fairly restrained and the rest of the band looked ready for bed.

Perhaps if they weren’t the opening act for a band that is notorious for their lead singer’s enthusiasm for onstage aerobics, they would have been better received. Their songs were somewhat charming and sweet and songbird Megan Washington had the most beautiful voice. The only thing was their over reliance on the xylophone that lent a cheesy vibe to their music. Songs like Swallows and Clementine reminded me of the soundtrack for that chewing gum ad where the cute little food creatures run around and you’re not exactly sure whether you really want to get rid of your bad breath because the little doughnut is so goddamn adorable. That’s what they sound like.

Children Collide were a definite change in tempo. Where Washington were relaxed and chilled, Children Collide electrified the stage from their first note of their first song. They performed like true rockstars, with frontman Johnny and bassist Heath going bananas on stage, doing the obligatory guitar-solo-behind-the-head. After playing the Nirvana-esque track Chosen Armies particularly furiously, Johnny mumbled, ‘I think I may have just broken my thumb’. They played with such ferocity, that Children Collide’s manager should probably take out premium medical insurance for the boys.

Their set included Social Currency, Across the Earth and their massively epic indie anthem Farewell Rocketship. Despite their rockstar performance, the band was humble enough to introduce themselves. ‘G’day, we’re Children Collide and we’re from Melbourne. We’ve always wanted to play at the Forum so this is a pretty special moment for us… Yup, yup.’ I expect to see big things from this local band, because it turns out that a fairly large contingency of the crowd turned out just to see Children Collide, and the Grates just happened to be a nice little bonus.

Nevertheless, the excited crowd started hooting and cheering even before The Grates stepped onto stage. The cause: their fabulous Western stage props consisting of giant cacti, a wagon wheel, a golden merry-go-round horse and mounds of sand. But one particularly odd punter was overheard saying, ‘I wish they still had the penguins. The penguins were awesome. It was like they were staring into your eyes.’ Penguins aside, when the Brisbane band hopped onstage to the theme of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly they were greeted by a full house screaming and cheering.

Their amazing set included Rock Boys, Lies Are Much More Fun, Science is Golden and Message. Patience Hodgson even sportingly jumped into the crowd during Trampoline. As soon as the song ended and she scrambled back onstage, she asked a girl in the front, ‘Is that your boyfriend? Fuck yeah! He’s so hot and so nice!’ I’m not exactly sure what went down, but we can all assume that she met a particularly attractive punter.

Frontwoman Patience is definitely an abnormality. If you dressed the Energizer bunny in a cowgirl outfit and gave it a microphone, that would be her. She does everything that shouldn’t work, but somehow when she does it she epitomises indie coolness. She pulls all the dance moves that the popular kids at school told us we weren’t allowed to do anymore. The water sprinkler, the I’m-pretending-to-swim-breast-stroke-but-I’m-still-standing, the lasso and her trademark dead rabbit move (pretend you’re doing bunny paws, but make your arms all limp and flop them around).

She also wore a slightly frightening cowgirl outfit which included a white cowboy hat and a white miniskirt. Which happened to fly up and down mesmerisingly as she hopped around stage. The result was surprising cute not skanky, but hey, she is Patience Hodgson after all. But furthermore, she’s blessed with a set of freakishly good lungs that she can run amok on stage, bouncing around like a Mexican jumping bean whilst still singing her heart out without being out of breath. Amazing.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND DANCE MOVES HERE