Live Review: Spiderbait, Tired Lion, Jody

Spiderbait celebrated 25 years on the alt-rock scene on Saturday night with a party to rival all parties. The room was about half-full for our opener, Jody, a straight-up indie rock band from Sydney. Considering this band's age, these four young men craft really tight songs: it's easy, danceable, the right combination of fun and a little bit of residual teenage angst.

Tired Lion fed off the enthusiasm of the band before, putting on a rollickin' live show. The indie pop band are a bit heavier and broodier live — and it really really works. They're punk as fuck, led by Sophie Hopes, who is a fierce frontwoman — a really strong singer and performer, with a voice that demands, and deserves, your attention, just as Tired Lion have deserved their recent accolades. Set highlight is easily I Don't Think You Like Me, followed by Suck.

The room is full to the brim now, the crowd skewed to an older age bracket. But age doesn't mean they're not able to have fun — as they quickly demonstrated. That familiar weed stench rose from the centre of the crowd as we were welcomed by a recording of It's Beautiful, set against a Spiderbait retrospective vid, all shots of the band on stage and goofing around backstage. It was bloody beautiful. This was a room of hardcore, dedicated fans — you could feel that buzz of excitement rippling through the air, and the band could feel it too, and they clearly appreciated it. It was a roaring set, high energy, pub/alt-rock, shouting and groovy, Kram, Janet English and Damian Whitty clearly loving every moment. On the ground the mosh pit was flying, flailing arms and kicking feet and everyone pushing against each other in a space near the centre, sometimes glancing up to catch a glimpse of Kram on the drums. We're taken on an adventure through their whole catalogue, from 1992's debut Shashavaglava to 2013's self-titled comeback album. It's a pared back set, just bass, lead guitar, drums, vocals — none of the synth shine of some of their mid-career albums, no extra guitar lines, which actually makes the event a little bit more of a hard rock show. There were no set highlights because there were no set lulls, only a seemingly endless list of classics: Ol' Man Sam, Run, Shazam, Circle K, Buy Me A Pony, Outta My Head, Jesus, Hot Water And Milk, Footy... we could keep going. Fucken awesome.