Live Review: The Belligerents, Wild Honey, Neighbourhood Youth

A heavy blend of live drumming and electric percussion welcomes the beginning of Neighbourhood Youth. The Melbourne four-piece are the most versatile of the night, genre-jumping at the drop of a hat with influences from The Police, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead and many more. While their energy on stage is wavering, the sense of mateship and enjoyment from the local boys is what makes their set. Laughing throughout and having a hell of a good time, it's clear this is a real passion for these guys.

A little slice of West Coast USA is thrown into Northcote Social Club as Wild Honey take it up a gear. The throwback feels of Cali sunshine-pop mix effortlessly with the indie vibes of Twin Peaks and Wavves, making something truly special. The Sydneysiders hit some excellent harmonies and massive instrumentation throughout the set, epitomised entirely in the fantastic Pull It Together. Tonight, Wild Honey prove themselves as masters of "the show must go on" mentality: when vocalist Thom Moore suffers at the hand of a massive technical issue, the rest of the band step up to the plate and keep the crowd lively with a lounge-jazz cover of the theme to Home And Away.

The theme of themes continues when The Belligerents take the stage to a symphony from the Austin Powers original soundtrack. Dancing into the spotlight with a tongue-in-cheek demeanour, the boys quickly prove that while their attitude is playful, their music is a damn serious business. Harmonies hit the crowd at obscure and precise intervals, playing to the FX overload that hammers on the aural and visual. Polarities of psychedelic surf and a full-blown indie dance party meet to meld together in an unfathomably tight sound.

Vocalist Lewis Stephenson is as vivacious as ever, pulling shapes like Kate Bush and engaging the crowd in a frenzy of movement. When choice hits Voices and Looking At You take off, so too does the audience. It's an opus of lights, music and boogie - a stadium show in the backroom of a bar.

The band seem to have an almost transcendent connection to one another, playing together in total synchronicity that can only come from years of collectiveness. In their six years of being a band and after releasing a handful of EPs, it is only now that their debut LP is well and truly on its way. The album teaser in new single Caroline is met with heady excitement as to what comes next. No doubt it will be worth the wait.