Live Review: Elvis Costello, Sunnyboys, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses, Stephen Cummings

The grounds of Sirromet Winery just outside of Brisbane look stunning this afternoon and the weather is impossibly beautiful; stinking hot with a trademark Southeast Queensland blazing sun, but an incredible, luxurious breeze to ensure no one lost their cool too badly. It's hard to imagine that just seven days ago we were battling fierce storms, fearing another flood disaster, the kind of weather that put a stop to so many events and would have almost certainly forced the cancellation of this one.

One can't imagine Stephen Cummings is going to win too many fans here this afternoon though. Most who bother to pay attention to him mutter to each other in stupefied tones as he belts out tunes on an acoustic guitar with a simple synthesised drum beat backing him up. The setlist is pretty great; This Wonderful Life, Suspicious Minds, Fell From A Great Height and Love Is Mighty Close To You are all great songs, but today it seems a bit messy and he has no hope of filling the massive amphitheatre with a performance like this. Even a lengthy Who Listens To The Radio isn't quite enough to get people excited. Certainly an act best enjoyed in more intimate environs.

The relaxed mongrel folk of Tex Perkins & The Dark Horses is executed with far more class, however, the inimitable Aussie frontman leading his hot shot band through a series of tunes from throughout his solo career. Looking At You But Seeing Her has his gruff, rich voice reaching out and grabbing every member of the crowd, demanding attention in a most unruffled way. Lucid is a heartbreaker, while Fine Mess has Perkins picking up the guitar and adding just a little more aggression to his voice. The coolest moment is saved for last though, as Perkins and co rip through a groovy Anybody But You with a decidedly Stairway To Heaven style ending. Needless to say, more than a few of the ladies present today are prompt in making their way to the merchandise tent to get their moment with Tex at the set's conclusion.

It's a rare treat to see Aussie r'n'b masters Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons performing live, but the band show that they've more than kept their handle to the material up over the relatively dormant years that have passed. Some sax driven boogie blues gets the band warmed up and the crowd on its feet before Jo Camilleri introduces So Young as the first song he ever arranged for the band way back when. They play it with unmistakable accuracy, though one imagines there might have been a little more passion in the performance 30 years ago. That said, they do look like they're having a good time. The ripping Hit & Run goes down a treat, but Shape I'm In is the song that really ignites the crowd, pockets of oldies leap out of the chairs as Wilbur Wilde leads its iconic horn line.

It's not often that you'll hear the A Day On The Green tour DJ Grand Master Baitz playing the seminal My Pal by God, but it's fitting given the two legendary post-punk acts we're about to witness in the flesh and it's appreciated by the, umm, nerdier of us in attendance.

It's been a very, very long time since Sunnyboys played a show in Brisbane and many of us here today thought it would never happen. But not only do the band play this evening, they absolutely nail it, showing a vitality and precision that's somewhat dumbfounding given the sheer lack of performing they've done in the past 25 years. As I Walk kicks things off promisingly, but when they launch into Tunnel Of Love it becomes obvious that the band have found a groove that frontman Jeremy Oxley towers over with a close to perfect voice and guitar skills.

The only thing that's special about the Sunnyboys set tonight is their songs; they have no gimmicks, no brilliant banter and make no excuses. It is this that makes the show truly spectacular – a setlist incorporating classic songs like Happy Man, My Only Friend, No Love Around, Let You Go, You Need A Friend, Liar, Show Me Some Discipline and, of course, the timeless Alone With You played pretty much faultlessly makes the wait entirely worthwhile. They leave the stage, but the crowd needs more, so they come back to quickly blast out Ain't That A Shame to a rousing reception. Tonight the Sunnyboys merely came out and played like a four-piece surf influenced power pop band and that's all we've ever wanted from them.

What happens next is exhausting. Elvis Costello & The Imposters come onstage and punch out hit after hit, many of the songs literally running into one another as Costello stabs out the guitar chords to the ensuing song as the current one ends. It might be exhausting to watch, but it's also quite brilliant, the band expressing just the right amount of both grit and brilliant musicality which suits with a set very heavy on material from his classic 1977 debut My Aim Is True. I Hope You're Happy Now and Watching The Detectives get us started before the unabashed rock'n'roll of Heart Of The City and Mystery Dance means anyone who wants to dance has no excuses. Radio, Radio gets hits as hard as one would expect before Waiting For The End Of The World brings things down a touch.

They actually take a little bit of a break before Stations Of The Cross – you can almost high a sigh across the crowd as they do – and the great Everyday I Write The Book and Alison get us settled. This doesn't last long, the band rips through (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea and, before we know it, the lights have completely shut down and the stage is in complete pitch darkness. It might take a bit of sting away from the song, but the band does not miss a single note or beat, it's really rather astonishing, and by the time they lay into Oliver's Army the lighting is back to fully operational. A noisy as hell I Want You makes the passionate song sound particularly brutal and ends the set on something of an unsettling note – in the best possible way.

Of course that's not all, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes bizarrely turns into something of a cover of Prince's Purple Rain – yes, really – before a barnstorming finish with Pump It Up and (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding sends us home.

A bunch of post-punk veterans have showed they're still a force to be reckoned with this afternoon, we just wish we could do it all over again next week.