Many Things is the new band of former Yves Klein Blue frontman Michael Tomlinson. Before the first song Tomlinson announces to the crowd assembled in the Brightside Carpark that it’s their first ever Australian show, and then continues to beam ecstatically throughout, with intermittent pogo. The sound is tight, dance groove stuff with tropical keyboards, and Tomlinson croons over the top in suitable fashion. He’s definitely comfortable in the frontman role, even with a hairy, bare-chested drummer behind him.

Inside the Brightside itself Dollar Bar tear through their repertoire new and old, kicking off with a couple of girls songs - Cute Girls Have The Best Diseases, then Different For Girls. The sound is that brilliant ramshackleness of Guided By Voices and early Pavement, and the band is really enjoying themselves. It’s infectious to witness, Dale Peachey wrestles with his guitar throughout, Chris Yates as solid as ever holding it together on the opposite side, and the set flies by.

Babaganouj are like the perfect festival band just dropped in from the 90s: sweet melodies with a bit of crunch, lots of fun, music that’s really up for group sing-alongs. Despite having to wrestle with sound issues throughout on the Carpark stage, the band stay positive and kick out the tunes. Charles Sale, in particular, towers over each song, ripping into chords and lead breaks with abandon. So much so, he has to dispose of his Army Disposals hat for the occasion, thus exposing his new haircut to the world. Sale, along with Ruby McGregor and Harriette Pilbeam all take turns on lead vocals, which is an emerging thing for the band, and which will no doubt result in even more pop goodness.

TV Colours greet the crowd assembled at The Zoo with the sombre announcement that they’re from Canberra. What then follows is a blistering set full of punk energy that totally has the crowd in raptures. It’s interesting to note that the sound is different to the band’s recorded output, but it’s merely a reference point. Bobby Kills and his bandmates have that hard to define quality – a band going places. Of course, there’s something Husker Du about it all, but there’s also much more. They finish with the superb Beverly, which has more than its fair share of fist-pumping and pseudo shirt-fronting from the audience.

Velociraptor swamp The Zoo stage like a good-looking party in full swing. Band coach Jeremy Neale is taut with fist pumps, blue steels and adrenalin, and the others react like a whirlpool. With eleven members on stage, how they all don't smash their heads together in the mic-sharing instrument-swapping quagmire is beyond comprehension. Neale once again reaffirms his reputation as one of the most infectious entertainers in Brisbane, full of all the party tricks to keep things moving. At one point Sweetie from Bloods gets up to join them for a song, which further blurs the lines between the party happening on stage and the party happening off it. The band rips into songs old and new throughout– Sleeps With The Fishes slays, as does the storming closer on the night Ramona.

Dick Diver close out the night at The Zoo, and they’re totally up for it. They definitely have the appearance of a band that’s been touring and playing shows - they exude a resolve, a high level of match fitness. The rhythm section of Steph Hughes and Al Montfort are a delight to watch throughout, even when swapping instruments or taking the lead, they’re easily in their element being entertainers. Montfort, tonight, is particularly obsessed with the Eumundi Markets and whether Gary Ablett catches any gigs in Brisbane. Like his songs he’s obtuse and hilarious, all channeled to great effect in the song Get Back, which is one of the set’s highlights. All the while, Rupert Edwards and Alister McKay revel in their roles as the bookish ones either side of the action. They have an anchoring effect on it all with their now familiar guitar chiming. The band choose to close out a quietly triumphant set with the rousing Alice, and the audience is left happy. Not before however, a final full-time spray from Montfort which is at once suitable and comedic.

- Ian Powne.

Rolls Bayce produce a muscular funk-rock over which frontman Dean McGrath (?) soars like an eagle. His voice is just the right sorta bravura Tom Jones instrument to take this white-boy funk from anaemic to blockbusting. There are a few sound issues, but funk is custom made for moments like this: need to get something sorted out? Is it gonna take a few bars? Solution: vamp.

Per Purpose’s Glan Schenau broods and grimaces at the audience like Mick Jagger’s evil twin. As his band destroy their instruments (particularly Josh Watson’s poor violin bow) in the pursuit of the guttural wall-of-noise they’re known for. Clarity is a distant, bleary memory as the band run a gamut of emotions from hamstring snapping, speedy tension, through menacing confusion, into exhausted ennui, soon smashed by atavistic rage. Per Purpose and indeed Brisbane should be better known for this kind of music.

These New South Whales shoot unexpectedly up the bill and seemed very chuffed with themselves, strutting shirtless about The Zoo stage, naughty bits all gaffered up with black tape. Appropriately they sounded quite glam, but with enough grit to keep things interesting, all tarted up with the kind of slightly off charm that can only be achieved by a bunch of hairy, sweaty men with little ‘x’s where their nipples should be.

Day Ravies bring their highly diverse sound to the same stage a little while later. Comparatively quiet and unassuming compared to a lot of the day’s bands, they are a little hamstrung by a series of technical glitches that have the already laconic band standing around, staring at their shoes too often. When they do get going they are every bit the pleasant indie-art-rock melange that has been so enjoyable on their records.

Bloods light up the Brightside Carpark with a vivid energy, personality and sense of humour that matches their good time, punky, tuneful music. A very accomplished trio, they unleash old songs and the brand new ones from the record only just released with confidence and ease. The stage setup includes a weird sound shield, isolating every band from their drummer, all day; I think it’s Sweetie Zamora who says this is like caging an Eagle - well put.

High Tension are my highlight of the day. I’ve always liked their schtick of welding old school rock’n’roll to face-melting hardcore with front-harridan Karina Utomo delivering the coup-de-grace in the form of a hellish stream of soul-shattering screams. Their first full-length didn’t grab me always, but live - totally different story! The band rivets my attention the whole damn time. Also, as you’ll see from the photos, sometimes watching either High Tension or The Ring there is no discernible difference. Fierce.

Orphans Orphans deliver their power-pop / glam-rock supergroup thing with a polished ease. A young band that already knows all the tricks. Despite all the potential pitfalls with so many big rock personalities shoved into the space of just one band, at the moment it appears to be paying big dividends for them.

Blank Realm return from slaying ‘em overseas, hometown heroes. One punter must be upsetting many of the other bands mixed through the crowd when he yells “You’re the best band in Brisbane!” They bring a lot more energy to jangle-pop than most bands, but hell, they just bring a lot more in general and -not that they have much to prove- they carry it off nicely, once again.

The UV Race, unexpectedly, turn out to be the release mechanism for all the pent-up rage locked within the crowd at Blurst Of Times. Some big, weird dude who’s already been making a tool of himself up at The Zoo comes smashing through the punters, holding up a three-quarters empty bottle of tequila like a red ****ing flag. He collapses on to the foldback and fumbles out a large bottle of pills which he promptly spills everywhere. It seems to be the cue for everyone else to go bat**** crazy. The stage diving / crowd surfing / property destruction hit a fevered intensity that has me shrinking back and hugging my camera protectively. Props to the tiny little girl who spends all day diving into **** like that, snapping away with her super-expensive camera. I saw some guy twice her size land right on top of her during UV Race’s set. The band are pretty attention-grabbing too: their gutter-punk aggression as entertaining as ever.

Die! Die! Die! are another band who’ve risen in my estimation. Their cold, post-punk fury wears a wife-beater of raw, alt-rock aggression and on stage both elements of their sound are taken to the extreme. If even an ounce more energy had been added, somebody would’ve burst a blood vein. The fact that they keep everything rigidly in check, always less than a millimetre away from total failure of structural integrity is a case of doing slightly less and delivering so much more. DZ Deathrays are, unsurprisingly, the best attended band of the day and they carve it up for the packed crowd. Famous for a reason.

The Hard-Ons pay the price for DZ Deathray’s success, starting out playing to a virtually empty room. Blackie looks a little non-plussed and takes a little of his displeasure out on the sound guy, but the band shrug it off like the vets they are and thrash harder than any other band half their age. A fittingly smashing ending to the day’s activity.

- Chris Cobcroft.