Live Review: Dollar Bar, Jeremy Neale

It's a magnificent spring day outside and a solid crowd has turned out at Brisbane Powerhouse's Turbine Platform for some free family entertainment, and they get that in spades from the outset when a sartorially-elegant Jeremy Neale and his mod-suited band take to the stage and start pumping out song after song of suave '50s-scented rock'n'roll, the authenticity of the songs matched by the perfect demeanour and stage moves of this most excellent outfit. Indeed, at times it feels like you've stumbled upon some long-lost Nuggets boxset such is the effortless charm and distant familiarity exuded by these songs. Neale offers an anecdote about watching today's headliners in his youth and seems completely stoked to be part of this bill, and when he throws in brilliant songs such as Darlin' and Winter Was The Time, everyone in attendance is equally chuffed that they're here today.

Former Brisbane indie darlings Dollar Bar are back in action after a long hiatus – this tour is to launch a new split-cassette with another ex-Brisbane outfit Little Lovers, who played with them yesterday at Tym Guitars – and they kick off today's set by giving Olivia Newton-John's Physical their distinctive detuning, before kicking into old track Red Electric which garners a strong reception from the swelling crowd of former fans and curious onlookers. Frontman Dale Peachey is his usual effervescent self, and is helped along in his role by bassist Patrick McCabe who throws in the effortlessly catchy Backburner and guitarist Chris Yates who takes centre stage for old chestnut I Choose Danger. The ramshackle charm and innate melody that has always been the Dollar Bar stock-in-trade still exists in spades, and the songs sound wonderful in this relaxed daytime setting, with old tunes such as Hero Of The Dial and Pet Indifference bouncing off new numbers such as the excellent James Brown as if they've always belonged together. Their flirtation with mainstream acceptance, Cute Gurls Have The Best Diseases, has lost none of its innate charm, nor has the evergreen Impractical, and when they close the set with Made In Paris it's as if they've never been away, such is the amount of love in the room.

Pan-generational gigs such as this are incredibly important in the overall scheme of Brisbane music, not so much to represent a changing of the guard but because it celebrates the rich past, present and future of our ever-rewarding scene. Long may it grow and prosper...