Live Review: Motion City Soundtrack, The Early November & Deaf Havana

The beauty of the smaller Sidewaves is that you get to see one or two bands that you'd rarely, if ever get to see play in Australia outside of a festival like Soundwave and you'll be introduced to one or new bands that share a sensibility with the bands you already love.

UK rockers Deaf Havana already had fans in the crowd at the Factory, but would definitely have walked offstage with a few more. They infused their anthem-y rock with undertones of British folk traditions, often throwing an acoustic guitar and harmonies into the mix. The Early November never made it to Australia back in the early days of the noughties before they went on hiatus, so this was a chance for frontman Ace Enders and his band to really give back some of the love. Though they were having sound problems, Enders' self-deprecating banter and the large squalls of their fuzzy melodic rock kept the crowd jumping.

Over the course of five albums, Minnesota-natives Motion City Soundtrack have finely honed their mix of intelligent wordy lyrics and punchy pop-punk, with a pretty heavy emphasis on the pop. Playing a set full of fan favourites, there were hooks aplenty, as wild-haired frontman Justin Pierre was at times almost drowned out by the enthusiastic chorus of punters in front of him singing all the band's pop culture references back to him. Long-time fans were rewarded with My Favourite Accident and The Future Freaks Me Out from their debut album I Am The Movie and a stack of songs from second album Commit This To Memory. But the fans seemed just as thrilled to sing along to songs from recent album Go, such as the gorgeous Timelines.

Motion City Soundtrack will never be the biggest band on the Soundwave bill, but as long as they keep coming back we'll keep singing every word to every song right back at them.