Live Review: The Smith Street Band

It's pretty clear that the importance of packing out the Enmore Theatre isn't lost on The Smith Street Band. They kick off their Sydney show with a solid quartet of songs from the recently released More Scared Of You Than You Are Of Me ­- the scathing Suffer, the poignant Song For You, the charged Forrest and the anthemic Birthdays — and the crowd join in for every single word.

Frontman Wil Wagner, who could already do with a T-shirt change at this point, pauses to introduce the band and welcome the crowd. There are two new additions to the usual four-piece act this tour — Lucy Wilson on keys/guitar/percussion and vocals, and The Smith Street Band's own Pool House Records signee Jess Locke on guitar and vocals.

Wagner announces that this is the most people they've ever played to and you can tell he's more than pleased with that statistic, telling the crowd that it's going to be one of the best nights of his life.

Pressing on through some of their older and harder sounding back catalogue, the crowd surge picks up as signatures like Ducks Fly Together and I Don't Wanna Die Anymore play. It's commendable that as wild as the crowd may get, everyone stops to help if someone falls, something that Wagner himself notes to those involved.

Again, the crowd can't be faulted on their word-for-word playback of each song, and it's during It Kills Me To Have To Be Alive that Wagner smiles, looking up to the balcony of people singing back at him, happy and triumphant in what the band have created.

There's homage to the now, sadly, defunct Black Wire Records, a former Sydney home and haven to The Smith Street Band and their ever-growing fan base, and Wagner stops to thank the Keep Sydney Open team for their efforts in preserving Sydney's nightlife.

The show progresses with a mix of old and new tracks, and at points, you could swear that the floor of the Enmore was actually bouncing under the pressure of the crowd.

There's a false finish with new track Young Once, before the band re-emerge from backstage to play out a three-song encore. They switch up the dynamic here, with Wilson taking to guitar and Wagner changing to keys for the crowd-pleasing Sigourney Weaver.

They finish to a roaring, sweat-soaked crowd and Wagner shares, "I'm going to remember this night for the rest of my life — this has been magnificent," and you know what, he's exactly right.