Live Review: Ball Park Music, Ali Barter

'Every crowd is gonna suck after this.'

What apple pie is to America, Ball Park Music is to Brisbane. The five-piece are as well-loved in the city as a cold Milton Mango on a Sunday afternoon. This complete and utter adoration was none more evident than at the second packed night at The Tivoli for the start of the band's GOOD MOOD album tour.

There's nothing that gets you more pumped for a band than having a ripper opener and Ali Barter delivered in spades. The Cigarette singer gave a wild crack at bringing back the essence of the '90s with modern ideas and, by gum, I think she might have done it. She snarled the lyrics to One Foot In while constructing an elongated wall of sound that was not included in the studio recording but definitely should have been. Wrapping it up with a stellar rendition of Girlie Bits, it was so heart-warming to watch the women in the crowd go off at the relentlessly powerful yet delightfully cynical tune.

The cheer that Ball Park Music received when they emerged onstage was ear-shattering enough to bring the rafters of The Tivoli down. Instead, the band took it in their stride, giving the audience a mighty one-two punch of Cocaine Lion and She Only Loves Me When I'm There from third album Puddinghead. Of course, the crowd screamed along to every lyric, which is too be expected with an album that came out in 2014. But then the gang kicked into End Times, a particular highlight off the latest LP (which was released under two weeks ago), and wouldn't you know it - the crowd knew every single word.

Vocalist Sam Cromack could feel the crowd's love shortly after a slamming a rendition of little heard classic Cost Of Lifestyle with a new and improved solo, he beamed into the crowd, "This is the best audience I've played to in a while!"

Then the crowd absolutely lost their shit to legacy tracks Literally, Baby and Sad Rude Future Dude, which were met with deafening singing. But then the audience showed up again, almost drowning Cromack out during recent single The Perfect Life Does Not Exist.

The trend of the new stuff slapping just as hard as the only stuff continued with the raucous Hands Off My Body. The stage was drowned in red and yellow light, reflected from the luminous clouds that hung above. Cromack put down his guitar, as he and the rest of the band thrashed around the stage as if possessed by Beelzebub himself.

Calming it down for the traditional acoustic singalong of It's Nice To Be Alive, Cromack once again praised the people in front of him. "Every crowd is gonna suck after this," he laughed before kicking into Trippin' The Light. One thrilling burst of a confetti cannon later and they were ready to wrap up with a crystallising version of Exactly How You Are.

By my calculations, this was my 12th time catching a Ball Park Music gig and every time I leave the venue beaming. They have nailed a formula so perfectly that it's impossible not to get caught up in the joy of it all. Here's hoping that sometime in the near future Brisbanites will be able to cross the mighty brown snake via the Ball Park Music Bridge.