Live Review: Gignition

Tinder Thieves were a refreshing version of that acoustic singer-songwriter style that can so easily by shoved into the 'I want to shoot myself because this is so effing boring' category. Really, it's a hard musical genre to nail due to its stripped back nature. Tinder Thieves did a pretty damn good job of it. These two gentlemen were beyond comfortable with their crowd and enlightened us with something that resembled the sweetness of Bon Iver with the hostility of Billy Corgan.

Some good old fashioned Oklahoma rock'n'roll was hurled upon us by The Cold Acre. They turned up the distortion, abused their cymbals and gave us a whisky-soothed croon you'd want to sink a few brews to. Think Pearl Jam, Silverchair and a whole bunch of skanky grunge.

Whether the parents of the band members were simply watching them or acting as their guardians on a licensed premise was questionable. Oakland are the understatement of fresh meat. Their set was a concoction of bittersweet poppy ballads, ragtime-roots, down-tempo hypnotism and underwhelming covers. While this band apparently ticks all of the boxes that deems them destined for teenage stardom, they seemed almost bored on stage; a bit of passion and sass would go a long way.

The vocalist of The Skinny Kids has a pretty phenomenal vocal capacity with strength and vigour that can be likened to Beth Ditto. Their set morphed from something of a live dance performance into a curious and enthralling display of psychedelic-goth-rock, which was far better suited to their style and musical ability. Potential oozed from their pores yet one can't help but feel slightly befuddled by their general stage presence and lack of a defining genre.