Grabbing my wrist band, I followed the crowd into the Gershwin Room. First up to delight the packed crowd was Matheson; chosen by their fans to play the JD Set. Their voting fans made themselves known in the front of the crowd with a resounding cheer as Matheson took to the stage supposedly still recovering from the weekend’s Blueprint festival, not that it had any negative effect on their set.

Conjuring up a cross between Paul Kelly and stadium sounding vocals, Forever Girl brought out a long ballad chorus from lead singer Aaron Matthews. Matthews followed this up with a softer Lullaby and picked up the set with Let The Satelites Fall.

Their sound comes from crunch guitar intermixed with clean bass and drums coupled with massive vocals to create a soundstage far larger than the Gershwin Room. Bassist Mark Perry and drummer Stevie Martin joined Matthews and the crowd for mellifluous harmonies in I Was Her Man. They finished with River In The Sun from their new album These Are My Horses.

Winners of the JD set, The Bloodpoets were up next. Their strong voting fanbase that voted to have them support The Panics was out in force. Playing songs from their coming album like What You Think You Know ,The Bloodpoets brought their pop rock tones down from Brisbane. Guitarist Jason Marles riffs sit well with lead singer Tom Murphy and backup vocalist Bec Plath’s harmonies. Their fast indie pop hooks and Rosco’s funky trumpet delighted the Melbournes first glimpse of The Bloodpoets.

The Panics engulfed the room with a mix of their old and new songs. From their solid opener to older greats like Sleeps Like A Curse their somewhat laid back brilliance is obvious. Jae Laffer caught the crowds ears early on with Live Without, and followed the mellowed pace with Great Divide. The band was filled with a confident energy as they performed their set, and whilst this did much for their musicianship, their set did little to enthral the room. Continuing the good but not stellar mellow set with Confess they kept the crowd captivated.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE