Live Review: Fat White Family, Whipper

The Yah Yah's DJ spins a clamorous mix of jazz and '80s TV themes as the beckoning crowd wait for late starters Whipper.

When the Melbourne trio do finally hit the stage, it's initially difficult to tell whether the sloppy bass tones and incomprehensible vocals are an intentional addition to the band's punk sound. However, the crowd quickly warm to the band and form an impromptu mini-mosh for set favourites White Glove and Shit Love. Subscribing to The Ramones format of getting it over with as quick as possible, it feels like they've just begun before Whipper are off stage once again.

Fat White Family waltz through the crowd and onto the stage, which barely contains the six-member-strong London punk group. It's no real surprise that lead singer Lias Saoudi is in the centre of the mosh pit — and shirtless — before the end of opening track Auto Neutron. Saoudi is on another plane tonight; his unparalleled energy is echoed by the sum of the crowd's parts, with a storm of thrown beer drenching the rows of thrashing fans. As the sextet race into Whitest Boy On The Beach and I Am Mark E Smith, fans can't contain themselves and steadily begin a train of stage crashers and crowdsurfers, of which Saoudi happily obliges.

Nothing the band does disappoints the lively Sunday night crowd. Drummer Severin Black and bassist Taishi Nagasaka join the topless early on, while Saoudi spits into the crowd and onto his own microphone — which he then proceeds to re-ingest. They're a gang of sweaty, dirty, screaming punks. It's perfect.

There's an incredibly enjoyable clash of novelty and sincerity to Fat White Family's performance. Their onstage antics are like Spinal Tap on biker meth, but their music is true punk. The band thrashing out Tinfoil Deathstar is pure musicianship and talent, but the boys can still maintain their devil-may-care attitudes. Any other band would be called pretentious, but these guys make it work.

Between the lashings of necked brews and onstage smoking, it's easy to be thrown back to the dive bar punk bands of the '70s. The band is there for the crowd and vice versa; it's all about having a good time, and by God do these boys know how to have a good time.

Fat White Family screech into closing track Bomb Disneyland with full attention and adoration from the crowd. No encore — they don't need one.