Live Review: Wil Wagner, We Set Sail, Paddy McHugh, Virginia Sook

Walking down the stairs into the Crowbar tonight, the cold night air is mitigated by the heat of bodies in the club. It's warming to see such support for Australia's own punk rock troubadour and Smith Street man Wil Wagner. Virginia Sook are up first. Their set is quiet and arresting, their lovingly-crafted harmonies and subtle instrumentation unlike most else currently on offer on Brisbane's scene. It's because of this that Virginia Sook's set comes across feeling haunting and lovely.

Frontman of modern country outfit Paddy McHugh & The Goldminers, Paddy McHugh is doing the solo thing as well tonight. Material off the band's latest full-length record gets stripped-back and reworked for McHugh's set, and it's a treat to hear how all the changes go down.

Feedback is an always welcome addition to a show, and We Set Sail offer it up before things get too sappy and acoustic up in the Crowbar. Their set drones around the intersection of post-hardcore, shoegaze and indie rock, the songs sprawl out and captivate the room.

The Smith Street Band sound like The Gaslight Anthem, if The Gaslight Anthem weren't awfully hackneyed and tremendously over-sentimental, but frontman Wil Wagner comes across more in the vein of The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle tonight as he plays his headlining solo set. With boundless goodwill and an unwavering earnestness, the singer wins over the entire crowd in the basement club. Supplementing the material off his eight-track solo EP with Smith Street Band cuts like I Want Friends, there's plenty to stir up rousing sing-alongs. With his, presumably, autobiographical songs about getting high, falling in and out of love and realising how important your friends are, Wagner has the power to transport listeners to their teenage years, where feelings were amplified and an engorged sense of wonderment allowed them to approach situations without the film of cynicism that settles upon those on the wrong side of 20. It's powerful stuff, hearing what the singer can do onstage, accompanied by only his guitar, and after a few or more drinks it's damn hard not to yell/sing along, engulfed in the passion of songs like the upbeat celebration of friends, community and bad choices, Young Drunk, or the superbly diminutive retrospective Laika. Though he might not be on stage for very long, Wil Wagner puts on a damn fine show – a different animal from The Smith Street Band, but one that feels similarly honest and stirring. Wagner is a luminescent talent in the current milieu of Australian alt.rock and if you missed his show tonight, you should do yourself a favour and catch The Smith Street Band the next time they roll through town.