Live Review: L7, Cosmic Psychos

Aussie pub-rock outfit Cosmic Psychos blast the stage with thumping riffs. The trio gets the crowd involved early with an old favourite Nice Day To Go To The Pub and we sing back the lyrics. They are dressed as though they are about to do just that: jeans, T-shirts and attitude.

John Onya shreds the solo for reverb-soaked Fuckwit City and we head-bang to the growl of the guitar. Side of stage are a cluster of people watching the performance and one casually pops open a beer bottle with a drumstick while the guitarist lights a smoke on stage; it's that kind of night. The moshpit loosens up, with punters jumping into each other. "We need a bit of a rest now," they quip and all three take a swig of beer. Drummer Dean Muller stands up to hit symbols for the beginning of the next song until the fast riffs explode. Lead vocalist and bassist Ross Knight dedicates a song to Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump and one punter yells, "You've already played Fuckwit City!" They finish the set with the moshpit jumping around to distortion heavy Lost Cause.

The crowd is damn excited now to see the LA grunge-rock goddesses L7, as it was the '90s when they last graced our Aussie shores. The all-female quartet stride on stage to frantic cheers and metal horns in the air. "We are L-grab-them-by-the-pussy-7," they joke in reference to Trump's latest scandal. They tear into the swinging Deathwish and the moshpit erupts.

The punk rock legends quickly exceed expectations with thunderous shredding, hard-hitting drums and electric energy. Their performance is extremely tight and the moshpit is thrown into a crowd surfing frenzy. Lead vocalist Donita Sparks thrashes herself around on stage in true '90s rock form and headbangs in unison with bassist Jennifer Finch. They rock out hard and are instrumentality strong. The three riot grrrl guitarists at front of stage swap vocals that punch through the deep heavy riffs. They slay catchy punk track Andres and we sing it with them. They shred on Everglade and punters jump around - it seems as though women are dominating the moshpit. Long hair flails about the stage for the rock ballad One More Thing and we sing along. The wailing riff starts for Shitlist and we explode into jumping and headbanging harder than before, screaming the lyrics back and it seems like it's over in seconds. We demand an encore and are thrilled when they come back to the stage to play American Society, Pretend We're Dead and Fast And Frightening. We are ecstatic to have had this honour.