Live Review: End Of Fashion, Stillwater Giants, Casinodreams

It was a pleasant surprise to find Casinodreams taking the opening slot of the evening after not really being mentioned anywhere prior to the event.

Harrison Read fronting the band in a five-piece mode played a remarkably sharp and polished set, making the most of the short 30-minute slot with tight song cues and limited banter. Dropping in a cover of Ginuwine's Pony along with their own Throw, Go-Getter and Tropical Beach, the rich sound of onstage keys with the heavy indie rhythm made for a welcome start to the night.

Stillwater Giants are no strangers to a good support gig and their vibrant energy with slightly stepped up pace waved life into the room during Mount Street. Playing through a well versed set of tracks, it was the debut of a new cut that grabbed the most attention. With a bass line intro and ridged chorus reminiscent of The Strokes circa First Impressions Of Earth, Secret Agent is a curve in direction for the band and is tantalisingly fun, bringing some big promise to any new releases in Stillwater Giants' near future. Capping off their set with a wild solo run from guitarist Tom Godden to end Help You Out, Stillwater Giants managed to get many punters grooving.

With The Muppet Show theme blasting through the PA, End Of Fashion began 60 minutes of reminding everyone just how loaded with ridiculously catchy pop hooks their catalogue is. Reaching back to their breakthrough self-titled debut, She's Love, Too Careful and Love Comes In instantly drew attendees into Justin Burford's hand. Completely at home on Amplifier Bar's riser, Burford kept the sweet melody in songs such as Lock Up Your Daughters and Be Like That, while delivering a gritty live performance of screams and guitar thrashes. His jovial mood continued throughout the night and spread to the crowd, giving his best Marty McFly impression to lead into O Yeah and even poking fun at the song's parallels to Pixies' Where Is My Mind?.

The party was well and truly in high gear by the time the encore struck for Rough Diamonds. It didn't stop the swaying floor from throwing an arm around the next person, singing along with its Abbey Road "na-na-na"s to close and reminding all of why we need that next End Of Fashion record sooner rather than later.