Live Review: Future of the Left, Super Best Friends, Damn Terran

Melbourne fuzz rock power trio Damn Terran scored the opening slot for the whole tour, and it's very easy to see why – the group's hard and fast noise rock is perfectly suited to getting the heart racing. Vocalist Lachlan Ewbank's fantastically harsh vocals clashed wonderfully against bassist Ali Edmonds's Kim Gordon-reminiscent wails. Violent and punchy passages punctuating each song brought everything to life. Interesting thrash-cum-noise guitar work kept the whole show on another level and when the band afforded themselves room to jam, the results were uniformly amazing.

“From a little country town called Canberra”, Super Best Friends took the stage next and wasted no time showing their Mclusky influences. With songs comprised primarily of individual moments of loudness and quiet, excellent pop hooks and fuzzy bass held everything together. Round And Round was suitable well received and remains a bizarrely excellent rocker for our former and current prime ministers to appear in.

From the no-nonsense harshness of opener Arming Eritrea, Future Of The Left meant business, kicking off one of the most impressive rock shows of recent years. The band have only moved from strength to strength since their 2007 debut, and this was obvious when new tracks from last year's excellent How To Stop Your Brain In An Accident were given Australian debuts; the brutal chainsaw guitar of Bread, Cheese, Bow And Arrow and guttural noise rock of Future Child Embarrassment Matrix proved to be more than enough to whip the crowd into a frenzy. Classically, frontman Andrew Falkous' biting wit was on full display throughout the night, with potshots at England's recent Ashes result a recurring bugbear. As great as the band are at recording one classic alt-noise-rock record after another, they truly must be experienced live to be believed. Whether it's guitarist Jimmy Watkins being ferried around the crowd on a punter's shoulders or the band ending with a 15-minute noise jam that includes destruction of the drumkit and inclusion of Mclusky classic Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues, Future Of The Left exist for the stage. Sydney should be so lucky to see them back again.