Live Review: Poison City Weekender

Friday 14 September

White Walls are pure '90s, sonically and aesthetically: Dr Martens, denim jackets, eyebrow piercings and eye-covering hair. Musically, it's shoegazer grunge: My Bloody Valentine's Loveless meets Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. Bass-less and, for the majority, without melody, there's enough interplay between guitars – tone shifts, pedal boards and odd tunings – to make it interesting.

Next up and in keeping with the '90s theme are Sydney band Chinese Burns Unit, playing pop punk in the vein of Hard-Ons and The Meanies. They race through 16 songs in 25 minutes, including their entire 7”. Featuring members of Lawnsmell and Frenzal Rhomb, the band has a sense of humour and punctuates each song with an amusing and at times irreverent anecdote. It's their first time in Melbourne and they are instant crowd favourites.

From Western Australia, Grim Fandago is the least abrasive band on the line-up and they shine. Singer Tom Ware has a penchant for crafting intelligent lyricism into catchy pop music. The harmonies are tight, the chords crisp and the sound instantly likeable.

The beer garden soon empties for Tasmanian band Luca Brasi as the capacity crowd muscle inside to see what that little island down south has to offer. The front rows seem split two ways: those who have crossed Bass Strait for the event and the Melbourne locals fully aware of what the hype is all about. Both are equally boisterous, expressing their loyalty. Vocalist Tyler Richardson plays up his Australian accent, giving the band a uniquely Australian sound. His lyrics are simple but genuine and the crowd matches him word for word, as if the band's album Extended Family was written purposely for them. The addition of a third guitarist in April has fleshed out the band's style and emphasised the melodic facet of their sound, which is evident on new single and crowd favourite Viva Tassie Cabrones.

Canberra's I Exist are over the top in every way, from song titles including Black Unicorn, Return To Cosmos and Immortal Mare, to the fact they have seven people onstage, including four guitarists. Frontman Jake Willougby is full of energy, stage diving, hanging from timber beams and bouncing back and forth on the crammed stage. Closing with Turbonegro's I Got Erection, if Luca Brasi set the party mood I Exist take it to another level.

Perth band Extortion close the night. For a headline act they play the shortest set, though probably the most songs. “Let's play something really fast with indecipherable lyrics,” jokes singer Rohan Harrison mid-set, as the band break into a one-minute blast-beat track. It's almost 1am and the crowd haven't just been woken up, but schooled on Australian hardcore.

Saturday 15 September

Hugo Costin-Neilsen, who performs under the name Toy Boats, seems nervous and awkward onstage. He shouldn't be, he has songs that are as good as any in his genre: City & Colour, Bright Eyes, Rocky Votolato et al. Backed by a full band and playing electric guitar tonight, his sound hints to the new wave stylings of The Cure with a teenage infatuation with '90s emo. Once Costin-Neilsen has a few more live shows under his belt, Toy Boats may soon become the brightest Byron Bay band on the Resist label.

Dressed in RM Williams and a white Bonds top, Hoodlum Shouts singer Sam Leyshon takes to the main stage, playing the role of Australian storyteller. He shares vivid poetry about his country's history and at one point even plays the didgeridoo. Their sound is sparse when necessary, accentuating the lyricism as the guitar drops out, but full at other times, filling out the room with menacing post-punk. Closing with the spoken word-driven Hoodlum Settlers, it's an unconventional way to culminate their set, but testament to their approach to music.

After eight years together, A Death In The Family use their performance at Weekender, the festival run by bass player Andrew Hayden, as their final show. Playing a best-of set, littered with tracks from each of their two full-lengths and EPs, it's faultless. For the final two songs, they are joined onstage by original guitarist/singer Sarah Hardiman, fresh from a stint in the UK. The dynamic created between male and female vocals is impassioned and juxtaposes the gruff with the melodious, a trademark that made their early recordings so urgent. Having toured the UK, Europe and America, playing far-reaching destinations such as Finland, Czech Republic and Slovakia and opening for Against Me! and The Gaslight Anthem before each band broke, tonight's show is undoubtedly their best; sombre but gratifying and going out on top.

Headlining tonight's event is New York band Rival Schools. On paper, they are perfect for the festival: a super group made up of members from Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand and Youth Of Today and the makers of seminal 2001 post-hardcore record United By Fate. The band's nostalgic take on their debut album injects joy into the crowd, but songs from its follow-up, written some ten years later, fall significantly flat.

Sunday 16 September

The final instalment of Poison City Weekender heads out west to the Reverence, a hotel taken over by the Arthouse family and today unveiling its brand new second bandroom.

Early in the afternoon, Sydney band Milhouse take to the stage to thrill the crowd. Sounding like The Lucksmiths meets Descendents, their sharp and witty lyricism is matched with remarkable pop sensibilities. Like so many of the bands over the course of this weekend, it's the biggest crowd they've ever played to and positivity beams through their music. Closing with TL;DR from their Everything's Coming Up EP, if the audience don't know the words after the first verse, they soon do after the second, joining the all-in, pop-punk sing-along.

Somewhere between heart-warming and heart-breaking, 23-year-old Jen Buxton's music is an outpouring of emotion. Full of pain and articulated so eloquently in her lyricism, she casually fingerpicks through country-inspired folk music. “It's much too late for sympathy/Self-loathing gives me energy,” she sings on new song Anhedonia, aloof from her talents. Throwing in covers by Mississippi songwriter Cory Branan, seminal punk band Jawbreaker and also a duet with Jaime Hay (for John Prine and Iris DeMent's In Spite Of Our Faces), her set is eclectic and inspired. The standout of this festival.

Having sold out the venue some 21 days earlier for their album launch, Melbourne's The Smith Street Band return to do the same, this time to conclude their tour and the weekend-long festival run by their label. With a solid three weeks to digest Sunshine And Technology, their acclaimed new release, the crowd scarily knows every lyric, every lead guitar line and every drum breakdown. Opening with the pertinent Young Drunk, it's chaos from the first riff. Frontman Wil Wagner cops a mic stand to the face, but doesn't break stride, joking with the crowd surfer, “You owe me a tooth”. Jaime Hay, guitarist/singer for A Death In The Family, who played their final show the previous night, joins them on stage mid-set. They team up to cover Making The Nouveau Riche by Blueline Medic. It's a symbolic moment and in many ways signifies the dawning of a new era of Melbourne, and perhaps even Australian, punk rock. They close with South East Facing Wall, which Wagner prefaces as “the last song we play in Australia for a few months”. It's seen as an invitation from the crowd, as both band and audience leave nothing behind.