Live Review: Last Dinosaurs - The Zoo

Timed to perfection on the eve of a midweek public holiday, tonight's celebrations were never going to be anything short of fun and Gung Ho are the perfect soundtrack to encourage some playful vibes in the room. With Oliver Duncan in full voice and his bass locked in tight with the heavy hands of drummer James Wright, the band sound larger tonight than they did during their recent support of Bluejuice, and as on that night, Twin Rays, their three minutes of perfect pop perfection, closes out a superb slot suitably.

With the room really starting to fill, Millions amble out on stage; however, there's a few confused looks in the crowd when it's registered that Last Dinosaur frontman Sean Caskey is slinging on a guitar for the band. Turns out their regular riff operative Ted Tilbrook has busted up his hand, forcing the band to soldier on with various strummers including Caskey and Gung Ho player Michael McAlary. The set is solid, especially considering the circumstances, but you get the feeling the band are happy to keep it in second gear with a lot of their tracks, a shame because when they do stretch their abilities, they sound all the better for it.

Then after a lengthy interim, Last Dinosaurs appear from within a plume of smoke and waste no time all but owning their night of nights. With an extra set of hands manning keys and additional percussion duties, their excellent debut album is really brought to life, Time And Place and Weekend sounding excitingly sharp early in the set, the big finish of the latter especially impassioned. The visuals behind the band work wonderfully during the set, trippy 3D deer busts, snapshots of Swiss mountains and psychedelic shots of the band all adding to the experience, while Lachlan Caskey's guitar playing throughout the night is nothing short of stadium-worthy, his shredding really injecting a bombastic energy into the music, his effects varied and forever entertaining. Shit, at one stage it even sounds like he's channelling a steel drum through his six strings. B-side Beaux Mont sounds that good, you wonder why the hell it never made the final cut, and their mash-up cover of Modjo's Lady (Hear Me Tonight) and Spiller's Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) seamlessly makes late-'90s Brit beats sound awesome. With the voice of the crowd helping the local lads see out the show with Honolulu and Zoom, tonight is the culmination of all the hard work Last Dinosaurs have put in over the past three years. However, if the mass adulation is anything to go by, they'll be having a few more of these 'defining' moments in the future.