Melbourne five-piece Slowly Slowly opened the night to surprisingly large fanfare for an opening act.

The pop-punk riffs and gritty vocal lines from their earlier tracks fire up the room nicely, but they no longer stack up to newer tracks being debuted. They played new track Sorry, the sweet swing melody of the opening verses bleeding into a fierce, punchy chorus, exposing Slowly Slowly's growing maturity and setting them as a band to watch.

Beneath the vintage bulbs hanging scattered above the Rosemount stage the crowd engulfed the barrier. There was scarcely a pocket of room left with anything more than a sliver of shoulder space.

The full throttle intro of Anarchitect signalled Something For Kate were in Perth once again and brought instant delight. They followed into Captain (Million Miles An Hour) and Pinstripe, all from their now 20-year-old record Elsewhere For 8 Minutes. It's the band's first club tour in four years, and their choice of setlist is sublime, treating fans to their early sounds blasted with energy. This was vintage Something For Kate, Paul Dempsey arched under his microphone as he slammed chords on his Jazzmaster, Stephanie Ashworth swaying over her bass at the side of the stage and Clint Hyndman thumping away in back.

"Hey, how's everybody doing? We're Something For Kate and we're from Melbourne," said Dempsey during a quick pause in the breakneck pace, filling the need for some banter to cover a few drum kit corrections. The worthwhile wait ends in Cigarettes And Suitcases, Anchorman and The Kids Will Get The Money giving the band a chance to shift gears. The dip in energy would be a negative force for most acts, but for Something For Kate it's a testament to the band's ability to capture the intimate setting — although they are helped by, as Dempsey put it, "that incredibly polite and respectful Something For Kate crowd". The announcement of the passing of Malcolm Young sombre turn on the otherwise celebratory evening, but it's hard to deny a more fitting tribute than the set-closing Electricity.