It's another cracking Queensland afternoon as an unpretentious mob stake their spots on the Sirromet hill and prepare for an '80s pop extravaganza. And what an odd, but largely fulfilling evening we share.

Two Cabs To The Toucan absolutely booms out of the PA as Models, led by Sean Kelly, well and truly make their presence felt early on. The moody Atlantic Romantic has the band finding their feet, while the jaunty calypso of Barbados elicits the first yelps of joy from the masses as a brave few dance around gleefully. The front of house completely cuts out during Local And/Or General but this is quickly rectified and the crowd erupts further when the band bust out Out Of Mind Out Of Sight. Keyboardist Andrew Duffield belts out a new song that's surprisingly quite inspired, an off the wall bluesy slice of pop that leads into I Hear Motion quite nicely; the funky, clav driven '80s pop tune the band's best of the day. The same can't be said for Happy Birthday I.B.M. which proves to be a rather weak closing salvo. The band don't sound all that much like they did back in the early-mid '80s and as such they don't really manage to fully get the early crowd onside. It's also interesting to hear no reference to the recently deceased founding member James Freud throughout the set, though we're sure Kelly and co have their reasons.

We're told, ten minutes before their scheduled start time, that The Church want to come on stage early in order to give us an extended set – what a treat this proves to be. As they launch into the first notes of Metropolis it's immediately obvious that this band's jangly pop is simply timeless and Almost With You sounds so fresh it's so hard to believe it has been 30 years since it was first released. Steve Kilbey puts down his bass and grabs the mic for Sealine; he's an endearing frontman who performs with a quirky kind of passion and, while he clearly puts a lot into his performance, you can't imagine he's taking himself too seriously.

Even though it's a hot Queensland afternoon, these great songs are executed with such aplomb that they transport you somewhere much darker, colder and more intense. The fact they can make a track as sparse and bleak as On Angel Street connect with thousands in an environment like this is true testament to their brilliance. Reptile absolutely slays – its guitar riff is surely one of the best in Aussie rock history – and Under the Milky Way follows, typically pricking up the ears of those in the crowd who haven't been all that interested up until now. But it's their closing moment, a long, noisy, feedback drenched You Took that sees them playing at their finest. They pull no punches, furiously stabbing at their guitars, as all manner of piercing noise bleeds through the amp and all over the hill.

A quick video introduces Devo to the stage, all clad in grey with masks covering half their faces instead of trademark energy domes atop their heads. They kick off with some newer material, Don't Shoot [I'm A Man], Fresh and What We Do from 2010's Something For Everybody showing their modern electro focus, fitting nicely with the vintage 1982 electro of Peak-A-Boo. Visuals are perfectly matched to the band's performance and they sound great, but it's not until It's Good, Girl U Want and Whip It are all aired in quick succession that the crowd starts to become entirely captivated.

A costume change follows, the band re-emerging decked in their famous yellow jumpsuits and launching straight into the classic Uncontrollable Urge. Mongoloid follows, frontman Mark Mothersbaugh spending the song dancing around with a set of pom-poms. Jocko Homo is utterly fucking beautiful in the way it confuses the wine soaked dancers, people still try and groove, but soon find out its nigh on impossible. No such problems with Gates Of Steel, the anthemic tune providing perfect opportunity to fist-pump for those of us so inclined. Another costume change sees them emerge in colourful tops to blaze through Freedom Of Choice and while Gerard Casale tries his hardest to bum us out by complaining about their equipment, it sounds just great where we're standing. A set as weird, subversive, absurd and exceptionally fun as this deserves a great ending, but Devo don't give us that this evening, instead giving us a long version of Beautiful World with an appearance from their Booji Boy mascot that is more irritating than anything else. But, this aside, it's a pleasure to see this band continue to exist.

Judging by the exceedingly large portion of the crowd who have stuck around for tonight's headliner, this might be an unpopular opinion. But Simple Minds just don't seem to fit on their own bill here tonight. The British new wave icons come out with all guns blazing; a mammoth light show, a killer backing singer and an enormous sound make them impossible to ignore and one can't deny the performance they put on and the effort that has gone into the show are immense. Jim Kerr is a consummate frontman, prowling the stage, engaging the audience and nailing his every note. Love Song takes us way back to their 1981 LP Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call, getting hips shaking all throughout the grounds while the attention-demanding Celebrate is the night's most epic moment.

They don't let the momentum drop at any stage, 1985's All The Things She Said a mid-set highlight, but it's the one-two punch of Sanctify Yourself and, of course, Don't You (Forget About Me) that has people most excited. That said, it all feels very bizarre and just a little bit wrong; following up from two sets so artistically wild and wonderful, Simple Minds are just that little bit too safe to really get too excited about.