You Am I guitarist Davey Lane opened the night to a small crowd of rocker types. His performance steadily grew to a fierce climax, with many more drawn into the bandroom by Lane’s passionate performance, belting out lyrics and showing us the variety of music one man can make with one guitar. The highlight of the set was the finale, a cover of The Ballad of El Goodo .

As Small Affairs performed their sound check it became obvious that they would be an interesting band to watch, with vocalist and front man Cam Ford and bassist Ren Pigeon jostling with each other, hinting at the energy that would come into the performance. The band delivered a very loud and energy-filled set, Ford moving around and working the stage, clearly enjoying his art, delivering the bands own take on pop-rock with Words Of A Stranger, Guilty Pleasures and the band’s cover of The Stones’ original Jumpin’ Jack Flash, closing finally with their own work It Ain’t Easy.

When The Brutals took the stage, their front man struck as being similar to a straight-haired hobbit, rather innocent looking. With a mellow sound the band performed Janeane Janeane and Walkabout. Their cover of the Go-Betweens Surfing Magazines was modestly introduced with; “we don’t often do a cover, now you’ll find out why.” The performance itself wasn’t at all as bad as was made out though. To close the set, the band performed Piece Of Heaven and Goldilocks, the former being an entirely new piece of music.

The room was now full of people, waiting for something to happen. Rushcutter wasted no time before launching into their first track; their frontman Robbie Reyne resembling a vagrant cherub with his golden locks, making him appear much younger than his years. Over the course of the band’s performance, with the heat of the lights above him and the energy he poured into his performance, the sweat started to affect his appearance, making his previously youthful and luscious curls look less young as they became dank and sweaty, almost coming of age before the audience’s eyes! Rushcutters smooth sound was expressed through tracks The Liveable City and some of their newer turns, Benny’s Tunes and Listening which had never been played before Friday night’s gig. Rushcutter showed that they could also pull of a decent cover song with their cover of Elvis Costello’s Lip service.

The criticism here lies not with the bands themselves, who did bring their all, but with the sound engineering which at times had the instruments so loud one could barely hear the vocals to make out which song they were listening to. This surely would be a huge disappointment for the band as they performed well but found themselves unable to be heard. Rushcutters’ was a decent gig to kick off a night out in Melbourne. They are a band that has all the makings of a successful rock act. They have their look sorted, their sound and a solid stage presence. Some more work in the sound engineering and their gigs will be frequented by many in no time at all.