So it is that time of the year again where all our coke drinking finally pays off… in the currency of music that is. The mosh pit filled up quite quickly with some punters waiting  for hours outside the venue to try and get the ultimate spot, front row.

This year’s Coke Live and Local event had a rocky start when local act The Oceans came on and had sound problems so for a while they seemed like an instrumental band  – but this soon got fixed and the buzz picked up and managed to impress the punters. They were then followed by the regular tour bands, first up The Hot Lies, who had a solid set and were even better live than on the record. After The Fall came on next with songs The Fighter and an old favourite Mirror Mirror being well received. The guys were in such a good mood that Ben even brought one very lucky fan up on stage for one tune and had her hanging on to his neck for the majority of the song. For awhile we thought she was going to be allowed to stay for the whole set as no one was escorting her off stage and the band didn’t seem to mind her hanging around, eventually however she returned to her space in the mosh.

When End of Fashion finally came onto the stage, they launched into their singles and everyone’s favourites such as Oh strain, O yeah, The Game and opening with She’s Love but one can wonder whether news of what had happened in Adelaide had reached the Sydney fans [back story: Justin had mentioned in Adelaide how he reckoned no one would hit him with their bottles which of course had set a bottle challenge for the rest of the night…] as the only time that bottles were thrown on stage was for the End of Fashion set. The crowd remained pumped up even right through the final song – so that they were even singing along to the house music just before The Veronicas landed on stage. Jess and Lisa were greeted with a huge roar and they along with their backing band played off that energy very well strutting up and down the stage giving everyone on each end of the venue a good view of them. The guitarist even going to the very edge of the stage to get some attention and their drummer, whilst up the back also quite enthusiastic, throwing his stuck up in the air every other bar and catching it back again to continue the beat.

Now if you aren’t a fan of the Veronicas then you might’ve been scared at their attempt to cover ACDC’s Long Way To The Top as well as Jess’ time on the guitar but I must say it was refreshing to hear Tracy Bonham’s Mother Mother. Although upon further research I’m guessing that most of the kids might be under the impression that it’s an original song since it appears on their Secret Life of Us record. They ended on a high, closing with 4ever that had the crowd ready for the next act and the final one for the night, Evermore.

Even before the guys had stepped onto the stage there was a chant for ‘Evermore’ beginning to increase in volume and a couple of dedicated fans holding up hand made banners to get noticed. The boys opened with their title track “Real Life” before going into a crowd favourite It’s Too Late. Evermore used the energy of this crowd to film their upcoming new single Unbreakable before playing their current single Light Surrounding You which had people bringing out their mobile phones out to produce lights surrounding the band. Their final song Running getting a huge reaction and had their fans screaming for an encore which had guys coming back to play For One Day before going down to shake everyone’s hand up the front.

All in all a good show, this year’s line up proving much better than previous Coke Live and Local concerts and hopefully the event will keep continuing to improve for years to come.

Check out the photos from the gig here