I hope that 2econds don’t read this gig review because I have nothing good to say about them, and have absolutely no idea how they got to play at WOW. It was as if the sound guy’s younger brother’s band wanted to play, and the venue figured that since no one rocks up at 9pm, no one would notice. Quite possibly true, since they only opened doors about two minutes after their set had actually started. They were clearly not serious musicians, with both guitarist and bassist playing through measly 10 watt practice amps and the drummer’s ride cymbal was so mangled that it looked like a pancake on a toothpick.

Try to imagine listening to a Sum 41 cassette on a dodgy stereo with broken speakers. Their cover of Blink 182’s Anthem Part 2 was so godawful that one of the few punters snidely remarked, – œAnd I thought Blink 182 were out of tune…’ It seemed like the band themselves realised how bad they sounded, with their guitarist repeatedly apologising for their presence. Halfway through their set he said, – œSo we’ve only got ten more minutes of our set, which means that we will only be disturbing your night for another ten minutes.’

After that bizarre and slightly painful set, it was a relief to get the chilled and most definitely musical WhiteBirds & Lemons onstage. As they were doing their sound check, singer Scott Frantz addressed the crowd: – œWOW. Thank you WOW people, we’re here to play at your World of Warcraft gaming convention.’

Thankfully they didn’t play Nintendocore, but their music was still just as quirky and probably best described through their set-up. Rob Dickens drum kit was a hybrid of traditional drums and an electronic Roland drum kit. Guitarist Matt Wilson was not only equipped with a guitar, but also a keyboard, a sampler and a very expensive looking Mac Book perched precariously on the top tier of a keyboard stand. Their music was a curious fusion of indie, alternative, pop and jazz, with the most exquisite beats and Molko-esque vocals. In other words, they sounded like Beck.

They changed things up a little bit for Gambler by playing musical chairs: the drummer on vocals and bass, the singer on drums, the bassist onto keys and their keyboard/guitarist just on the guitar. The overall result was pretty freaking awesome. Rob Dickens’ vocals were so excellent that it made me sad when he went back to beat duty. While he was probably not as technically proficient as a singer than Frantz, his voice lent an edgier, more alternative vibe to their music. To make sure that the crowd definitely knew that Dickens was a talented fellow, their second musical shuffle for their set had him playing keys on Human. They also played And We Are, Ticket, Shapes I Revere and Easy.

Hailing from Sydney, musician Tom Ugly and his backing band by the same name were certainly not ugly. The four-piece opened with the dynamic Higher Than Hell, their heaviest and most alternative track that made the crowd pay attention with its industrial metal synths and walloping beats.

The highlight of their set was the synth heavy Roll Again, which showcased Tom’s ability to switch seamlessly between synths, vocals and guitar. They also included The Host, an alternative ballad that highlighted the breadth of their songwriting skills whilst still retaining their signature sound. They also played Oh My…, Fantasy, Eyes Like Water, their new single Bad With Love, All I Wanna Know and Cult Romance.

Their set was astounding, and the only moot point was the choice of WOW for the Melbourne venue of their national tour. Despite being the headlining act and definitely in a higher calibre of performer than the other bands, they weren’t the last to play and were only given a measly thirty minutes. Secondly, such wicked music should really be played at more alternative venue like Revolver, instead of a nightclub filled with teeny boppers. For an indie nightclub, there seemed to be an overwhelming number of immensely mainstream, blonde 18 year old girls with she-mullets dancing drunkenly. One of them even thought it would be fun to clamber up little steps leading to the stage and dance up there, completely blocking out the view of the singer. Hopefully the next time the Sydneysiders venture into Melbourne, they’ll get the attention and the fans that they deserve.

The next boys onstage were local band City Calm Down, who fitted the venue a little better with their breed of New Wave electronic pop. With a similar set up to WhiteBirds & Lemons and the addition of a cool saxophone, the bass lines on Lost/Trapped were so heavy that it almost sounded like there was a dijeridoo onstage. The cool thing about CCD is that, unlike a lot of other electronic bands, they refuse to play over a laptop. But of course not all electronic bands have the talents of proper musicians like Samuel Mullaly (commandeering the stage with his sexy saxophone and massive synthesizer set-up) and Michael Quirk (who manages to make the use of a drum machine obsolete). Their set included Right, You Can, Afternoon, Soulwax and Every Day.

The last band of the night were the uber cool Bipolar Badwise. Perhaps WOW’s choice to save the three-piece till last instead of Tom Ugly was a wise choice, with a massive cluster of shiny happy people clustering around the stage just for them. As soon as they opened with their chiptune-inspired Sacrifice, Bipolar Badwise had the entire ground floor of the nightclub bouncing along to their romantic electro pop. Their catchy but short set also included Midnight Transit, Lovenasium, Forever After, Entwined and a cover of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle. They did however have timing issues that stemmed from using both a backing track and a live drummer. They were still playing the closing bars of Bizarre Love Triangle when Entwined started to play. Perhaps they should follow the City Calm Down route and get an extra band member to alleviate the need for a laptop. Either way, the crowd didn’t seem to notice any of this despite the band shooting each other nervous looks.

Tom Ugly showed Melbourne how attractive Sydneysiders can be, with a little help from WhiteBirds & Lemons, City Calm Down and Bipolar Badwise (but not really much contribution from 2econds).