Live Review: The Smith Street Band, Restorations, Hoodlum Shouts, Milhouse

Milhouse have a great combination in a Morrissey-style vocal paired with completely unpretentious punk music. Carving through at least three drumsticks within the first track, their power is palpable, but they also have that Staying At Home or Blueline Medic pop sensibility. Laundry showcased their acerbic songwriting while Holiday had lead Tom Elder channelling Dave Grohl. As they miss-cued and looked forward to seeing “the professional bands perform after us”, they didn't have to wait long, with the headliner's Wil Wagner joining them on stage for their closer, TL;DR.

Hoodlum Shouts are a muso's band. The kind of Midnight Oil, Johnny Rotten truth singers that most people find a little inaccessible, but whose raconteur skills musicians appreciate. With didgeridoo and harmonica punctuating the more interesting parts of the set, the sombre dirges threatened to kill the buzz of the night, if not for the craftsmanship and penetration of Sam Leyshon's vocal into the bowels of your inner ear.

Gracing our shores from the USA, Restorations are bouncy. They are so damn happy they even sing along to their own songs. With cool time signatures, catchy hooks and vocal diversity, their music is kind of indie and grownup, like as if Weezer played punk, with a little Tame Impala psychedelia and a little Butterfly Effect heft thrown in, making a nice mix.

As soon as The Smith Street Band ripped their first note, the plethora of Descendents T-shirts in the room made sense: this crew are authentic punk. Concerned after a few safety incidents at their last shows, frontman Wil Wagner spread the brown acid warning before launching into Sunshine And Technology as the opener. Yeah that's right – they can open with their single because the rest of their material is just as good or better. Only a few notes later saw the first crowd surfer of the night and security didn't mind – cue the party. Their lyrics rival the everyday folk tales of The Pogues and the sound follows the loud/soft, thrash/mellifluous chant-along style of Pennywise. While kids clung to the windows of the Annandale just to get a taste, I Can't Feel My Face and I Want Friends roused the crowd. All of their songs did really. The one criticism levelled by some hacks at the band's new album – that of being too anthemic – makes for a shit hot, turned up to 11 gig though that leaves you exhausted but fully sated.