Live Review: WAAX, Rag n Bone, James Dylan & The Sadmen

James Dylan & The Sadmen open the night and they're a tough act to pin down. Showing flashes of a unique sound and style throughout their set, with tracks like the attention-grabbing Better Than This, it's difficult to feel immersed given that the band's performance lacks polish. This feeling is summed up best with their cover of The Strokes' New York City Cops, which doesn't add to or redefine the original in any way — it's just tossed in as filler.

It's only been a few months since Rag n Bone swept us up with their debut LP, but the tracks already have enough recognition to dominate the room. Having mastered the dynamic build, their set comes in waves of vigour with Tall Ships, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, Pissy Flow and The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter stirring the crowd. Under the wild guitar movements of Axel Carrington and the post-punk rebellion of vocalist Kiera Owen, Rag n Bone once again make their mark.

It takes 30 seconds for vocalist Maz De Vita to own the stage as hers and 30 seconds after this she leans into the foldback and turns a placid crowd into a pit of feverish dancing and moshing. That's WAAX in a nutshell, really; the Brisbane outfit don't come to fuck around, they want their set to be a sweaty party and this is no exception. From the outset, You Wouldn't Believe, the five-piece explode with energy and a razor-edged bite that shows why they're one of the most talked about live acts in the country right now. Whipping through tracks from their recent EP release, De Vita is chaotic and relentless in her commanding of the crowd, her piercing vocal-soars grab onto the angst-laden emotive lyrics to shake the floor and charge forward on the band's fierce hooks. Despite having to battle technical problems throughout, nothing could diminish WAAX's set. Wild & Weak decimates the room in a final volatile hit, capping off a killer national tour from a band that are going to be a ridiculously hot ticket on their next trip west.