Live Review: Wavves - Corner Hotel

The unofficial theme tonight is youth and why wouldn't it be? First up are Geelong teens The Murlocs. Vocalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith clearly takes stage presence and blues harp tips from his father Brod Smith, leader of mid-'70s band The Dingoes. Playing low-energy blues, their set is highlighted by a modern take on Count Five's Psychotic Reaction – unfashionable but highly enjoyable.

Sydney band Sures hit the stage next with a shoegazer take on The Beach Boys, sans the fun. Radio single, Poseidon, shines as a clear standout and will no doubt be the track that shakes their 'up-and-coming band' prefix.

Here last year for a stint at Golden Plains, San Diego band Wavves return to the local festival circuit for Groovin' The Moo. Playing a club sideshow tonight, they begin with King Of The Beach, the title track from their 2010 record and arguably also their most popular song. Simplistic in both nature and its delivery, the song is quintessential to the band's laidback attitude. Sounding like a jangly, surf-punk jam, inspired equally by The Ramones and The Beach Boys, it turns the crowd into a fit of flailing arms and pogo dancing. As song after song merges into the next within a haze of guitar feedback, they play tracks off each of their albums and recent EP, including crowd favourites Post Acid, Green Eyes and In The Sand.

Notorious for his mid-set breakdown at 2009's Primavera Sound Festival, to the outside world 25-year-old frontman and guitarist Nathan Williams seems constantly on edge. Tonight is no exception. Early in the set a stray leg from a crowd-surfer cannons into his microphone stand and his carefree façade disappears. He retaliates immediately, cutting the song short and touting the fan “a meathead”. Selfishly hoping for a spectacle, this reviewer stands poised and for the first time since King Of The Beach is played, engrossed. Sadly nothing eventuates. Towards the end of the set they take on Sonic Youth's 1992 hit, 100%. Recreating its fuzzed-out, no-wave glory, it's ambitious but works and cleverly breaks up their own songs, which were beginning to sound all too similar.

In the live context tonight the hyperbole awarded to Wavves as “internet sensations” and a “bedroom project” stand for little more than masked excuses. Sloppy and largely uninspired, the band's late rendition of So Bored is timely.