The Corner was positively rocked to its foundations as British India completed the hometown leg of their Vanilla Tour. A powerful performance was greeted with an amazing atmosphere and inspiring audience participation; it was obvious that Melbourne was very glad to have them home.

Opening support act Big Scary embraced a simplicity which charmed most within the swelling crowd. The Melbourne-based two-piece evoked a steady audience response with unusual and distinctive vocal stylings, and a demanding stage presence. The basic band format produced a White Stripes vibe (female drummer with male vocalist/guitarist), which complimented and worked well with their sound.

Embracing true grunge rock, New South Wales’ Bright Yellow took to the stage next with a casual appearance but an enthusiastic attitude. An energetic bassist, animated drummer (despite the loss of a cymbal half-way through the set) and stimulating frontman allowed the trio to have broad audience appeal and this won them a great deal of admiration. The bass rippled through the room, both as audio and as vibration, during the entire set and gave it that raw rock edge. The near full capacity crowd in no way shook the band’s confidence or inhibited their performance, they were tight, slick and completely entertaining.

In the lead up to the headlining act, a slight rustle of movement behind the curtains elicited a new level of cheering volume. The audience, in obvious high anticipation, became a frenzy of motion and noise, and thus setting the standard of passion that would be maintained for the remainder of the night.

British India came out in an eruption of colour and high energy. Instantly powerful, they took over the entire Corner and everyone within it. The sound was sharp and the group dynamic highly impressive. Band and audience fed off each other equally, creating a very traditional mosh full of shirtless men, intense jumping and crowd surfers, as well as producing the most energising performance this reviewer has seen in a long time.

Declan Melia proved to be the ideal frontman. Enchanting the crowd with both his voice and his ability to truly perform, he had the audience hanging on to every word and every note. Slowly removing his clothes as the show progressed and increasingly dripping with sweat, he invested everything that he had into the performance and was just about all that a rock performer should be.

The reason for the show, new single Vanilla, was more the warmly received by the attention-rapt crowd; becoming one of the many highlights of the set. Catchy and musically striking, it is an immediate favourite for many and even better when seen live.

A band that knows not only how to engage with their audience, but also how to really put on a performance. No one wanted the night to come to a close, even after a three song encore. Hands firmly planted in the air, the crowd gave them a loud and well-deserved send off. No words could accurately describe or capture the sentiment of such a stand out gig.