Live Review: Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, Baby Animals, James Reyne, Boom Crash Opera

What a day it is to celebrate fine Australian rock music; as the sun beats down on the immaculately kept, though only just not-quite-parched vineyards of Sirromet Wines, half an hour from the Brisbane CBD, a strikingly diverse crowd files into the enormous performance space all united in either a love for – or a curious interest in – classic Australian rock music.

Over 10,000 people, clustered in groups of all shapes and sizes, jostle for a spot on the colossal hill that stretches from the stage to the winery at its summit as Boom Crash Opera prove a solid opening act. While their legacy hasn't quite lived on as strong as some of this evening's other acts, they still manage to bring the memories flooding back with a jovial Hands Up In The Air, from their 1987 debut, and an epic The Best Thing before they close out the set with the still kind of irresistible Onion Skin.

After being introduced as “the nicest man in Australian music”, James Reyne gallops onstage flanked by a full band and launches straight into his first solo hit Fall Of Rome with gusto. 1991's Slave follows before the band rips into a blistering version of Australian Crawl's debut single Beautiful People, a rendition that would do the rest of Reyne's ex-band proud. This is just the beginning of a spate of classic Aussie Crawl material to come, the perennially underrated lords of Aussie pop-rock paid ultimate respect with truly fantastic, vibrant versions of their biggest hits; and don't the crowd lap it up. Reckless provides today's first real big sing-along and, at this point, it seems like one that'll be kind of hard to beat. Downhearted gets fewer punters involved, but those who join in the song's classic chorus are fervent in their vocal support. 1988 solo hit Motor's Too Fast settles the audience somewhat before an enormous finish, Reyne and co smashing through amazing versions of Errol, Oh No Not You Again, Things Don't Seem and Boys Light Up, four songs that make you proud of our recent musical heritage, songs seemingly everyone here adores. Kids in legionnaires caps and overpriced designer t-shirts stomp around joyously to the music that their parents (or, in some cases, grandparents) would have danced to decades previous, singlet wearing, rats tail toting yobs pump their fists, oldies nod along in their chairs and young women, tipsy from the venue's product, dance gleefully.

Besides a fairly disturbing comment in which he refers to the crowd as “ten acres of MILFs”, James Reyne and band have smashed it out of the park this afternoon, totally surpassing expectations and setting the bar for the rest of today's acts.

Sadly for them, no one really seems all that interested in the Baby Animals this afternoon. While their energy and proficiency is appreciated, it's only their bigger hits like One Word and Rush You that manage to steer people's attention away from their picnics and gossip sessions. The band slip a couple of new tracks in, an understandable move from their perspective, but not one that endears them to the throng this evening. Up against the rest of the talent on offer, one can't help but think this band will be little more than a blip in the memory of the event.

While it has been 18 months since Dave Gleeson joined The Angels, he acknowledges that this might be the first time many of those present this evening have seen him in action. As such, he comes out ready to deliver and, it must be said, he's actually a very good substitute for Doc Neeson. He sings differently to how he approached vocals with The Screaming Jets and while he doesn't imitate Neeson's style, he certainly channels it to some degree. The set starts with a bang as the band slam out classics like Marseilles and After The Rain nice and early. No Secrets is one of those rock tunes that you can't imagine ever sounding dated, the dark but catchy track exciting the crowd greatly before an amp blows and the wheels start to fall off. For a band with as much live experience as they have, the band don't really deal with the technical issue very well and their good work is almost all undone as the audience's attention drifts again. Thankfully, they have some pretty powerful tricks up their sleeve, Take A Long Line and Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? picking the mood up, there's nothing like a bit of yelling and swearing to get a sauced crowd back on side. A quick encore of Mr Damage finishes up a set of fairly discernible peaks and troughs, but one that ought to stand Gleeson in reasonable stead with a lot of Angels fans.

The mood shifts as we wait for the last band of the evening, the sun has dipped, a portion of the crowd has hit the dusty road back to town early and the spirits seem a little lower than before. One must question the rationale behind happily plying an audience with bottles of wine while the blazing sun beats down during the day, but closing the venue's bars before the final band takes the stage, but liquor licensing in this state has never really made much sense. The DJ carries on with his air guitar shtick but even dropping iconic songs like Khe Sanh and You're The Voice doesn't seem to elicit much response from the weary crowd.

Thankfully, Hoodoo Gurus are in typical form and manage to inject energy back into the crowd with a set of their classic and infectious not-quite-indie, not-quite-punk rock'n'roll. Tojo ensures the truly Australian feel of today is kept strong, My Girl shows the timeless power of an infectious hook and The Right Time remains as thrilling both on record and on stage tonight as it has since its release almost two decades ago. Miss Freelove '69 injects some slightly needed energy mid-set, before the unforgettable Come Anytime runs into recent single Cracking Up – it doesn't quite pack the same punch as the older material, but it still connects reasonably well – and live favourite I Was A Kamikaze Pilot from the classic Stoneage Romeos LP caps off a killer main set.

There's honestly not much more that can be said; the band's songs, along with the fact that they remain one of the country's most vital live rock'n'roll bands after so many years, speak volumes. Perhaps their most impressive overall trait, however, is their adaptability; they can play a mainstream commercial rock event like this, they can play a dingy club in any city around the world, they can play a corporate function and turn around and hit an event like the Big Day Out without issue.

Death Ship kicks off the encore that was always coming, but it's the big finish of I Want You Back and Like Wow Wipeout that really hammers home the power of this band's songs; those who have stuck it out to the end of this evening's festivities dance, grin, sing and soak up these wonderful final moments.

While today has been a celebration of not even slightly current Australian rock'n'roll, it has been inspiring to see that the acts of yesteryear are, for the most part, remaining decent propositions on the live stage. The diversity of today's crowd and lack of pretence among them another positive to take out of what has been a most pleasant Sunday celebration.