Dropping a stellar debut record, supporting Jeff Rosenstock, and then proceeding to sell out all the venues on your tour is no small feat, but when wonderful musicians Georgia Maq, Sarah Thomson, and Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich combine their forces like a scaled down version of Voltron, it's not surprising that Camp Cope can do such a thing. The Melbourne trio drew a full house and had the audience in a complete trance.

Kicking off the night was local two piece Marville, who's straight up, distortion heavy set reminded me a lot of Screaming Females, which rules because Screaming Females are sick. Despite a few technical difficulties, like breaking the snare and a wailing wall of feedback during their second to last song, they got the night off to a swell start. Wrapping up their opening slot, we were gifted a pretty sweet Sonic Youth cover. All power to power chords and the use of a distortion pedal. It rules.

Coming off the back of their “Keepin' It Flacid” tour, the Muddy Chanter boys had so much swagger and charm that it was incredibly infectious. On top being top performers, the long haired gents can sure write a bloody good tune. Kicking off their set with recent single Poco Cholo, which has a swanky video as well, it was smiles, good vibes, and a melodic punk showcase from there on in. With cheeky banter between the band and the crowd flying freely between songs, you got the feeling that these dudes were your friends. With the sing-a-long inducing Interview rounding out the set, a serious song squeezed in before that and another one that may be changed to, "Sailor Moon,” if guitarist Luke Morgan has his way, Muddy Chanter came through had a blast and flooded the crowd with the same joy that had. If you saw these dudes and didn’t have a smile on your face or even have a bit of dance, you’re probably a robot; which is fine. At least we know Skynet is now live.

I should premise this by saying I've been dying to see We Set Sail for close to three years now so I was really stoked to see Brisbane's purveyors of, "Sad bastard music,” and it was everything I expected and much, much more. 

With a new album set to be released sometime this year, We Set Sail played a flawless set, flexing their three-guitar line up with walls of chord beauty while the sample speeches punctuated the breaks between songs. The use of these speeches and layered stacks of guitar tones transcends We Set Sail’s set from a live performance to a visceral experience that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. The quintet came through with a stunning albeit short set and completely blew me away. You should probably definitely listen to this band.

With Crowbar now reaching its capacity, Melbourne group Camp Cope was greeted with hearty cheers and enthusiasm; a level of enthusiasm that was retained from the audience the entire time. For a young band, Camp Cope have definitely made an impact on Australian music, especially when every word projected forward by frontwoman Georgia Maq was met in tandem by a chorus of punters. Lazy comparisons can be made to fellow Poison City label mates The Smith Street Band but it would be reductive to reside them in the same vain because Camp Cope have stellar song writing chops in their own right. Kicking off the set with the first song on their debut record Done, the set was solidified as memorable as soon as we were graced with those opening chords. Playing already memorized Flesh & Electricity, Trepedation, and West Side Story, the brimming crowd lapped up everything. When Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams came around, over-hyped dude-bros, thankfully, have complied with Maq’s requests to simmer down and we were treated to another stellar song by a stellar band.

Humbly thanking the audience throughout the set, Camp Cope came and played a wonderful set that was well deserving of a full house. Here’s to hoping they come back up this way soon.

- Matt Lynch