Live Review: The North Freo Pub Crawl

Australia Day eve saw over 25 local and national acts hit up The North Freo Pub Crawl as part of another multi-venue show between the Railway Hotel and Swan Basement, featuring a huge range of diverse talent playing across five stages.

Indie rock duo Dead Owls kicked off the show in the sunny surrounds of the Railway's beer garden stage, rocking through songs of their EP, including the very catchy Only Child. On the indoor stage, Filthy Apes let loose with some fuzzed-out rock'n'roll, with the guitarist even donning an actual ape mask to rock out as the band's unofficial mascot.

Over at the Swan Basement stage, indie pop trio Girl York delivered a tight set of great tunes, with lead singer Shaun Martin starting off banging away on the keys before switching to guitar to end the set on a heavier note. Upstairs at the Swan Lounge stage was newcomer Renae Elliot, who delivered a fantastic set that was full of rich harmonies, great instrumentation and some great covers of Daughter's Still and Florence & The Machine's My Boy Builds Coffins.

Down in the basement Mezzanine ploughed through a fuzzed-out, feedback-laden set that included King Of The Ring and Mannequin Man, both of which were delivered with a rawness and intensity that left the audience wanting more.

Punters at the outside acoustic stage, meanwhile, were treated to a handful of new tunes from Noah Skape & The Teenage Wasteland. Scantily clad on stage in fishnet stockings, slacks and pork pie hat with a small parlour acoustic, Noah played songs from his new a-song-a-week project including The End and Here and even had time to throw in Andrew Lloyd Webber's I Don't Know How To Love Him from the musical, Jesus Christ Superstar.

Playing their first show for 2014 inside the Swan Basement, punk quartet The Decline whipped the audience into a frenzy with opener, A Crash Course In Emotional English, followed by You Died…Losing 16 Experience Points.

Back at the Railway outdoor stage, Usurpers Of Modern Medicine mixed psychedelic jams with electronic loops to create a hypnotic performance that included Tangent Man, Jam For The Dying Sun and Motorolla Borealis. Puck dominated the indoor stage, wowing the crowd with their unique brand of dream-doom stoner rock and capping off their set with a howling, chaotic version of Pedestal Fan.

After that it was finally time for headliners The Love Junkies to make their way onstage, albeit a little under the influence, to deliver a knockout set of some of their live favourites and send the large crowd that had gathered outside home on a high note. The crowd formed a mini mosh at the front of the stage as the band tore through new song, Chemical Motivation, alongside favourites Oxymoron, Black Sheep Blues and Maybelene, before frontman Mitch McDonald capped off last song, Blowing The Devil's Trumpet, by throwing his guitar around to produce a howling feedback sound and launching himself into the audience to end the night.