Live Review: Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front, Toe To Toe - Manning Bar

There's no way around it. With due respect to Melbourne noise terrorists Mindsnare, Sydney legends Toe To Toe remain the measuring stick by which all Australian hardcore is judged. Most bands would be intimidated on a bill like this – but not frontman Scotty Mac and the boys. From the opening strains of When Push Comes To Shove, through Falling Short, Slave, Seeing Red and right up to set closer Survival, the Toeys oozed confidence and class. Game over. Now all we need is a new album.

Maybe it was the sound gremlins plaguing their set, but Agnostic Front felt oddly flat. All the classics were there – For My Family, The Eliminator and Peace for the band's various crossover periods, plus the likes of Victim In Pain, Gotta Go, Last Warning and Friend Or Foe representing the band's unmistakable brand of street-level hardcore – but the energy was strangely lacking. Especially noticeable was the performance of vocalist Roger Miret, who seemed uncharacteristically out of sorts. Still, guitarist Vinnie Stigma with his newfound love for the South Sydney Rabbitohs again proved himself to be hardcore's jester in chief. Spirited versions of Iron Cross' Crucified and The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop also went some way towards rectifying things.

Where Agnostic Front seemed tired, Sick Of It All were bursting with energy. This was a religious experience and Clobberin' Time was the opening hymn. Testament to the band's staying power was the fact that newer material such as Machete, Die Alone, Death Or Jail, A Month Of Sundays and the absolutely vicious Take The Night Off were every bit as visceral and vital as Us Vs Them, Built To Last, Just Look Around or any of the other classic anthems Sick Of It All has created in their unbroken, 26-year career. Frontman Lou Koller used Sanctuary to pay tribute to Adam Yauch from Beastie Boys and Scratch The Surface to launch yet another Sick Of It All-inspired wall of death.

This was an intense display from a band at the absolute height of their powers. That this height should occur decades into their career makes the performance all the more impressive. Sick Of It All may be the elder statesmen of New York hardcore, but they also remain one of its brightest hopes for the future.