Live Review: Sounds Of The Suburbs

Kicking things off on the smallest of the three stages, Pacific Avenue promptly began with their catchy guitar riffs and super laid-back vibes. Although the lyrics at times held a lot of teen angst, they still managed to command the whole set. Their newest tune Girlfriend was the clear standout, which suggested it is only up from here for the boys.

Lost Tropics began with a bang. By this time everyone started to loiter, which gave the band an audience full of keen punters. The crowd got right up near the stage - grabbing onto the vocalist Alex Black for dear life. His hypnotising energy and enthralling rustic and melodic vocal brought their songs to life and the stage was packed with band members, all of them adding to the super cool vibe. Their yet to be released track Pills And Thrills was a standout of the set - a perfect start to a perfect sunny day.

Jess Locke had the task of opening the Prettyy Pretyyyy Prettyyyy Pretty Good… Stage for the day. Being forced to wait for Hill Town over on the Funkhouser Stage to wrap up before she could start made for an awkward wait for Locke, her band and the punctual crowd that assembled in front of them. The crowd was small to begin with, with roughly ten people watching, though it filled up soon after. Locke was jovial with them, saying "I hope you're all wearing sunscreen and hats." She played through her set before reaching Universe, the title track from her upcoming album. "Merch, buy stuff. It's great," she laughed before wrapping up.

Sloan Peterson's band were dressed uniformly in white shirts and black ties. They took to the stage a few moments before their leader, and warmly introduced her as she walked out. There wasn't much waiting before the four-piece had the crowd bouncing along to their blend of lo-fi dream-pop rock, Peterson encouraged the group to "find a partner, have a slow dance, maybe fall in love."

Ruby Fields started her set with super high energy, ploughing into super fast and ironic rhyming to match the upbeat vibe. The crowd dug her grooves, heaps of people running around and dancing with their arms flying everywhere. She covered Garbage's Cherry Lips before ploughing through her two tunes P Plates and I Want - her unique perspective coming through in refreshingly honest and kind of inspiring lyrics.

WAAX pulled the biggest crowd of the day yet. Frontwoman Marie DeVita bounded across the stage, encouraging the crowd to clap along. They shared a new, untitled track that they plan to record soon and it was a rare moment of calm, with DeVita settling behind the microphone stand. They busted through their best-known songs, and Wild & Weak garnered a huge singalong and cheers. It went all too fast and before we knew it they had left the stage, the last of the distortion still ringing out.

Jeff Rosenstock's set was one marred by technical difficulties. Despite this, Rosenstock and his band made the best of a bad situation. Bass player John DeDomenici kept the crowd entertained while Rosenstock tried to fix: 1. the power he knocked from under the stage and 2. the guitar that kept dropping out. They pushed through, and the tracks they did play uninterrupted were great, the crowd chanting back the words to Hey Allison!, Festival Song and Nausea. Rosenstock paid tribute to Jess Locke, telling the crowd that it's not a coincidence that Locke rhymes with rock... They wrapped up with You, In Weird Cities and though the crowd was small, they were mighty in their cheers.

By the time Crocodylus played the breeze started to kick in, though the sun was still shining at its brightest. They made an exhilarating entrance — introducing themselves with a punchy riff while singing 'Crocodylus' over and over. Their songs were short and sweet, keeping up the hype through the set, and the alternating vocals between Josh Williams and Stephen Sacco gave each track its own fresh vibe.

Body Type brought their A-game. They opened their set with their track 264, a tune glows with grunge ambience that's lightened with a touch of tambourine. They introduced themselves with a, "Hey, we are the Red Hot Chilli Peppers," which caused a giggle to erupt from the crowd. Their 'I don't give a fuck' attitude is something to admire and they back it up by playing flawlessly through the set.

Bleeding Knee's Club have been around for a while compared to some of the other bands to play on the day. It was the perfect act to sit back and have a pizza and a beer to. Their track Chew The Gum, from the latest EP of the same title, was the standout. The repeated guitar round was really cool - although some of their set could have used more variation.

US outfit Harlem have taken a break from their extended hiatus to join crowds in Australia, and a glorious return it was not... The crowd came running in but were offered a set that was full of technical difficulties. They tried to keep everyone entertained with a Cops theme song singalong, but by the third track they were forced to switch guitars mid-song due to some technical failures. Sadly, the crowd was mostly lost at this point, with at least a third abandoning them for Camp Cope. Eventually things came together, but sadly it was too little too late.

White Blanks were hectic, almost psychedelic garage rock. Sudden changes in time signatures kept everyone on their toes, the band jumping around the stage when you least expected. It was a set full of little surprises. They threw streamers of confetti into the mosh, enjoying themselves immensely. At times, the vocal was way too distorted and the crowd couldn't hear much, but it also added to the overall ambience of the tunes.

Camp Cope pulled one of the biggest crowds of the day. They started off with Done, and it was apparent that lead Georgia Maq was pretty stoked at the crowd singing back to her. She took the opportunity to welcome the crowd and to also check that they were okay. "Sexual assaults happen at festivals and it's up to us to stop it," she said, encouraging the crowd to say something if they see an assault at the festival. They pushed on through Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams and Keep Growing, before sharing a fiery, yet to be named new track. They rolled on with Flesh And Electricity, Trepidation and Stove Lighter, before wrapping up with Lost to a very appreciative crowd.

To end you could see the crowd running over from Camp Cope to the Pretty Good Stage to catch the Skegss boys. They opened the set with their track You Probably Won't Die For A While from their latest EP, Holiday Food. All three of the boys looked really happy on stage, grinning from ear to ear. The mosh was getting pretty wild by this point, although the crowds at Sounds Of The Suburbs were super lovely. "We don't drink out of our shoes but Ben will have a beer," bassist Toby Cregan shouted out to the crowd before they ploughed into their riff-heavy hit Mustang. This encouraged a heap of singing and crowd surfing from some of the lads standing side stage. This set was everything all at once; exciting, thrilling, catchy, pop-driven — the lot! They ended with their track Spring Has Sprung and on that day at Sounds Of The Suburbs, spring truly had sprung.