Live Review: The Medics - Annandale Hotel

Only a fraction of the ticketholders were in for Beef Jerk, who are a moderately interesting unpolished group yet to find their mojo. They had good, quirky songwriting, a lo-fi sound and a sense of humour, but lacked whatever it is that makes Pulp or early Mountain Goats compelling instead of odd. They look like an awesome band to have a boyfriend in.

Rapids are a polished act with a contained, intense energy, and a heavy electro synth-and-guitar wash stuck around for most of their set. Their best moments were the poppier ones where the electro-drone was dropped and the rhythm section was allowed to hit some offbeats.

The highlight of the supports was Underlights, an entertaining grungy rock band who know what they're doing, have gotten really good at it and commit to it thoroughly. Reverb-heavy vocals were spread over sassy liquid guitar lines that sounded like they belonged to a spacier version of Alice In Chains.

The room was totally packed by the time Sticky Fingers got going. Their brand of reggae/pop/rock had throaty vocals, thick, persistent bass and spiralling guitar and keyboard lines that lay somewhere between Toots and Faithless. A strong local following and on-stage energy meant the crowd responded to Sticky Fingers more than any other act of the night. The lads were at their laddish best when they stuck to reggae crossover numbers. When they started from a rock basis, they sounded like a reasonably good aspiring arena-pop act with an inappropriately large bottom end to their sound. But when the guys added rockier elements to their more centre-reggae songs, they hit the nail on the head, making you wonder why Warren Haynes never did a stint in Kingston as a session player.

The Medics closed the night, despite the fact that the crowd were clearly there for Sticky Fingers. They played their set to a half-full room and made the best of it. When they went all-out (or “code blue”, as we suppose it would be called), they were great. But inbetween there was far too much ponderous gloomy rumbling. The group's drummer is amazing and his rhythmic variation and textures saved The Medics from a Muse-y grave.