Live Review: Gold Class, Straight Arrows, You Beauty

Red Bull continue their support of local music with this sponsored show curated by the good folk at I OH YOU. It was a super low door price and first in first served which ensured punters were queuing at the door early.

You Beauty had a false start to their set with guitar amp issues causing a minor delay before they returned to the cramped Plan B stage for 30 minutes of woozy, chiming guitar, tightly pulsing bass lines and Will Farrier's quirky sports-chic frontman style. In the past they've sometimes seemed tentative and under-rehearsed, but tonight they were in fine form as Farrier shimmied and darted around the stage, conducting regular sorties into the audience. They know how to hit a fine groove - part sleaze, part tongue-in-cheek - and with tracks taken from both their albums, they were consistently danceable.

Straight Arrows are all about intensity and lurching around the tipping point between reckless abandon and musicianship. Of course they nail it every time. From the ramalama Beatles on speed of Bad Temper, the warped psych shake of Mind Control to the ghoulish prowl of Haunted Out, the band showed yet again that they're hands down the finest exponents of garage rock in this country. Toward the end of their set a toilet paper fracas ensued among the churning bodies front of stage, adding to the chaotic nature of their performance.

Gold Class are now a band that sound more balanced - a clearer sum of their parts. In the past, the focus has been mostly on singer Adam Curley with his distinctive stentorian voice. It's been a year since their debut album was released and they've played a tonne of shows, here and overseas. It shows, too. Drummer Mark Hewitt was tension personified. Taut, insistent rhythms, jerky and propulsive while the bass surged and pulsed overhead. Guitarist Evan Purdy slashed out claustrophobic chords that sounded simultaneously submerged and like stargazing squalls. New songs were aired and these were tantalising prospects for the next album. It was a masterclass in intelligent and compelling post-punk that capped off a superb night of music.