Live Review: The Painkillers, Thee Loose Hounds, Dennis Cometti

Garage and punk fans were out at Four5Nine Bar Saturday night of the Easter long weekend, ready to rock out to music from a strong line-up of local favourites headed up by James Baker and The Painkillers.

Footy-core three-piece Dennis Cometti kicked off the night, replacing Aborted Tortoise who were originally scheduled to play and performing a tight set of originals including energetic, fuzzed-up versions of Goon & Juice and Wooden Spoon.

Kicking it up a notch afterwards was Thee Loose Hounds, who delivered a blistering performance that got the crowd riled up before it was time for the main act.

On stage, shortly after 9.30pm, the three members of The Painkillers tuned up and waited for Baker to arrive.

After a brief moment of lead singer Joe Bludge calling the drummer's name out over the PA, Baker arrived and the band proceeded to smash out a killer rendition of Cannonball. Baker pummelled the floor tom with a punk rock rhythm while the other three members jammed away on their guitars before switching things up with the waltz beat of Shenton Park Madonna, which featured standout bass work by Martyn P Casey.

The band followed on with live staple Love Cancer, with Baker and the band smashing out the heavy Western-style rhythm before dedicating up-tempo rocker Red Headed Woman to a friend in the audience who managed to raise over $4000 for a sick friend, which got a round of applause from the audience.

There were some timing problems during Honey Bees, with Casey and other members losing the beat at times but coming together towards the end for a solid finish before bouncing back strong with Suicide Machine, which featured great duelling guitar solos from Bludge and lead guitarist Richard Lane.

Unfortunately due to his rocking out a little too hard, Bludge snapped a string or two on his guitar and had to ask for a spare from one of the bands. Luckily one of the members of the Thee Loose Hounds ran up and gave him a white Jazzmaster to strap on to finish the set. As Baker slowly quickened the pacing of the last song, Bludge's vocals increased with intensity before Reuben Unkovich from the Hounds jumped up and sang the end of the song to a huge round of applause from the crowd.