Live Review: Loon Lake, Jeremy Neale

Brisbane pop poster-boy Jeremy Neale is basically an institution at this point, and as such, even Sydney crowds pretty much know what to expect from his shows. Luckily, that doesn't hamper the experience at all, as the band's energetic, clever and excessively catchy retro rock'n'roll tunes just don't seem to get old. Neale woos the crowd with a balance of pure jangly pop sweetness (Lone Tiger) and intense garage-rock (A Love Affair To Keep You There), while his voltage-charged band provide lashings of intensity and energy.

Loon Lake's radio-friendly pop-rock music is not complicated. In fact, it's generally pretty simple. But it's perfectly suited to a live atmosphere, and the well-warmed-up, Friday night crowd at Oxford Art provided the perfect setting to enjoy the band's confident and catchy tunes. Guided by laconic and friendly stage banter from the floppy-sun-hatted Sam Nolan, and backed by the machismo that comes naturally with their three-guitar line-up, it was the frontman's clear and commanding voice which really drove the evening.

The band's guitar density really shone on their trademark big choruses: album track City Lights' chorus was a wall of stomping Pinkerton-esque crunch, whilst the inevitable Cherry Lips hit particularly hard in its final chorus and guitar solo. The latter song involved the second 'invite fans up from the crowd to dance on stage' stunt of the night, which, despite being a little distracting (a bunch of kids just ran up on stage so they could take selfies with the band), did feel in line with the friendly party-on atmosphere of the show.

Loon Lake's set closed on a weird note, with a practically note-for-note cover of The Darkness' I Believe In A Thing Called Love – a reproduction which couldn't quite achieve the over-the-top excess of the original, but didn't really add anything new either, and felt a bit like a waste of time. With that said, the cover received maybe the best reception of the night, and there aren't many people who can wail quite as well as Justin Hawkins.