Live Review: Vegas Kings, Hits, Tiny Migrants, Death Rides A Horse

We gather to celebrate ten years of Mere Noise Records with a sensational, albeit disparate bill of some of the label's finest talent.

Death Rides A Horse play Ramones covers in a country style and it's even better than it reads on paper (if you can believe it). They open with The KKK Took My Baby Away and run through great renditions of these punk rock classics; Rockaway Beach, Somebody Put Something In My Drink, Beat On The Brat and Sheena Is A Punk Rocker all highlights. They don't play often but they're worth catching when you get the rare chance to do so; their harmonies, arrangements and respect for the material while turning it on its head is admirable.

Fans have been waiting for Tiny Migrants' new 7” single for a long time now – tonight they finally launch it. The joyful garage pop of Honeycomber absolutely rips but their more recent slower fare also tick all the boxes; they're constantly getting better as songwriters and performers and it's enough to make you proud. There is a barrage of garage in the Australian music scene right now; here's hoping this is one of the bands that get noticed through it all.

There's not much light and shade with HITS; it's all just one big fuck-off blast of riff-heavy rock'n'roll delivered in a manner that sits halfway between utter precision and ham-fistedness – but in the absolute finest of ways. If tonight is any indication, the band's soon to be released second LP will be excellent as the new songs really get the blood pumping. But songs like the title track of their debut, Living With You Is Killing Me, and Sometimes You Just Don't Know Who Your Friends Are serve as tidy reminders of just how lucky we are to have this band blowing our heads off on such a regular basis.

They seem more sheepish than when they were wrapping up as a band three years ago, but astonishingly Vegas Kings sound just as good tonight as they did back then. It's great to sit back and be reminded of just how great their catalogue was; Fade Away, You'll Never Work In This Town Again, Hail, I Great Ape and I Ain't Getting No Sleep are just a few of the brilliant tunes aired. They tip their hat to Brisbane (and Mere Noise) past with covers of The Standing 8 Counts and The Hymies and close on the always great Flying Jesus Judo Kicks, which incites a stage invasion, which springs security into action. It's a weird way for the set to end, but it won't spoil such a great night.