Live Review: WAAX, Hedge Fund, Kiko Smokes

The sold out sign was (virtually) up for a night of rock at the Brighton Up Bar. It was like everyone was clued up that this was going to be a memorable night of live music. Sydney concert-goers are a smart bunch.

If we thought that the opening act sounded a bit like Birds of Tokyo, we'd have good reason to. It turns out that half of Kiko Smokes are from the WA group albeit on different instruments. Ian Berney (guitar) and Glenn Sarangapany (drums) drive the rhythm section expertly in this group while singer Jono Harrison's voice is powerful and melodic. It's a rare chance to see a promising band at the start of their musical trek.

Hedge Fund have been plying their indie-rock trade in Sydney for several years and they've got a really passionate and intriguing live show. Lead singer William Colvin has an artistic manner that is hard to look away from. He plays up to the crowd and sings with constant steely vigour along with rock theatrics. The band are tight and play an eclectic mix of synthy indie-rock that is hard to pigeonhole.

WAAX have been building a reputation for a tight and explosive rock show over the last four years, so expectations were high for first-timers as the five-piece took to the small corner stage through the bustling throng of a crowd. The drum beats kick in and the following hour-long show is a non-stop ride through raw, fearless rock'n'roll.

Marie DeVita is nothing short of dynamic perfection at the front of a band that doesn't hold back in their performance. The songs swing from the almost restrained verses of You Wouldn't Believe to the raw, unbridled intensity of Holy Sick. "Fuck yeah, girls down the front!" DeVita notes of the crowd and the large female contingent.

"We fucking love Sydney!" declares DeVita before diving into a cover of one of the town's own, Julia Jacklin's Pool Party. It's a rocked out and worthy cover of a song that's never sounded so large or loud. Their biggest single, Same Same, sees DeVita again at her feverish best, leaning out over the crowd, spitting the lyrics. With reputations upheld and word-of-mouth to spread, we re-enter the cool night already searching for the next opportunity to catch a night as top class as this.