Four support bands? Check out the mini-festival action here

Rocketsmiths are on super early and are unfortunately missed, the first in a line of four support bands for You Am I.

Probably the most polite rock band around these days, Last Dinosaurs could do with a good dose of mischief to liven things us. In fairness though, the small crowd could probably do with one too, but it seems most are still off somewhere getting well liquored in readiness for later tonight.

The Cairos quickly manage the unenviable task of getting the first pair of feet on the dance flor with short, sharp punchy tracks, none lasting more than 3 minutes in total. While the vocals may suffer a little tonight I can’t help but wonder why more bands can’t master to the point, energetic rock like these young lads.

Appearing silently from the behind the almost imperceptible black velvet swish of The Hi-Fi’s curtain, I Heart Hiroshima’s stabbing drums and two- vocal attack rip through their opening track, rewarding the patience and palpable anticipation of the now full capacity crowd. The adorable trio sport the only female artist of the night, and they are determined to make it known by sending shout outs to the ladies. Despite the pleading chorus of their self-pronounced foray into the world of singles, “I hope there’s something wrong, I hope there’s something wrong”, a roaring round of applause proves these guys have it down pat. A few minutes later and the bouncy Brisbanites exit stage left as unceremoniously and humbly as they entered, to the dismay of a very appreciative crowd.

Under purple light, bathed in solid white garb, camp as all hell and touting himself as tonight’s Judas Escariot, You Am I’s Tim Rogers enters flanked by three dapper looking gents in jet black, namely Davey Lane, Andy Kent and ever present Rusty Hopkinson. Determined to make believers of us all and prove why he is Australian rock’s best front man, Rogers hollers “Looks like we got ourselves here a genuine rock’n’roll show!”. And us believers were reborn.

Reaching back ten years or more, Ribbons And Bows makes an appearance to the delight of the older element of the crowd. The bouncing, funky blues sound of Forever And Easy gets the nubiles making full use of the Hi-Fi’s mezzanine level, charging back and forth, raising the sweat factor palpably. Lane’s solo geetar skills are flawless tonight, making every aspiring axe player a little more jealous.

Unconvinced that we’re excited enough by now, Rogers berates us all. “We ain’t done nothing yet, nothing to deserve your loving” before delivering a cover of Magic dirt’s Ice, accompanied not only by all voices on stage but most in the crowd as well. Astonishingly, Rogers lowers his guitar to an audience member to bang out chords for him during the track – which is nothing other than seriously cool.

Rogers’ antics continue with regular sups of wine between fits of poetry, offers of fellatio for all the boys in the crowd, and professions of love for the vocal abilities of Hopkinson, who can bang the skins while belting out a wicked cover of The Penetrators’ Teenage Lifestyle. It’s no easy feat, and the quartet takes a well deserved break.

The Hi-Fi has seemingly invented amps that go to eleven and the sound is cranked up another notch for the encore. The biting, hard rock tone and harmonious loving voices that You Am I have patented is applied to Neil Young’s, Come On Baby Lets Go Downtown. The crowd is more than a little bit gay for ol’ Timmy, and most start singing along with the Gurg’s I Sucked A Lot Of Cock and The Saint’s River Deep, Mountain High.

Bent on entertaining even without instruments, we’re treated to rounds of applause, hand in hand bows and Oscars-style, inter band sycophancy before retiring from the stage. Don’t ask me what the hell they were talking about while they were leaving though, cause I still can’t hear a thing. Long live You Am I.