New Found Glory & Less Than Jake @ Billboard, Melbourne

Two bands, at different stages of their careers. The Soundwave sideshow is sold out, a sound achievement for a Monday night. Despite the throng of people inside by eight p.m. however, there’s a definite early-week smell in the air; a feeling that had this been a Saturday – hell, even a Wednesday night gig, the atmosphere might be a little bit more alive.

Of course, those who suffer most for this lack of crowd enthusiasm is the opening band, and the sacrificial lambs on offer to the disinterested “fans” tonight are Floridian ska legends Less Than Jake. For their part, the five-piece is as tight as a band reaching their veteran status would expect to be, and their hour-long set provides a string of hits: Dopeman, How’s My Driving, All My Friends Are Metalheads and Plastic Cup Politics. Horns a-blazing, on-stage making out sessions and the like are standard highlights, but the crowd just don’t care. With the exception of the punters in the mosh pit, front men Chris Demakes and Roger Manganelli really struggle to connect with the rest of their audience. It’s a damn shame, and their frustration is obvious, especially in Demakes. Singling out a nonplussed girl texting on the side, and inviting security on stage for a drink (“I hate to see good money go to waste”) it’s painful to see from this band, whose live shows were once a thing of legend.

The main act however, are still building their fan base, although given the raucous response they receive tonight it’s scary to think how big they may yet become. New Found Glory, also from Florida, have been together since 1997, although the group seem fresh and genuinely excited about their current tour. That excitement, however, has nothing compared with the frenzy that the swollen pit has become. Playing tracks from their entire career (including the brilliant Hit Or Miss from their 2000 self-titled record), this is a band at the height of their career, and with a new album in the pipeline, who knows where they could end up. Closing their encore with My Friend’s Over You all hell breaks loose on stage, and all of a sudden it’s Tuesday morning.

Jenny and Johnny @ EBC

JENNY & JOHNNY, THE LAURELS – EAST BRUNSWICK CLUB

It’s festival season, so for the poor buggers who can’t afford a ticket to the festival itself (OK, so I’m talking Laneway here, surely you’ve worked that out by this review’s title), we’re in the few days during which one chooses the favourite band from the line-up, and fork out the $$’s to check ‘em out.

First up tonight at the East Brunswick is Sydney’s The Laurels, a four-piece shoegaze crew who seemingly hit the right notes without actually making an impact on the growing crowd. There are some brilliant, LSD-inspired Beatles moments, and the majority of the set is reminiscent of the drone-rock of the Black Angels or Tame Impala, although there seems to be a bit too much wanking over amplifiers to really stand out.

After a quick sojourn to the bar and an all-too-obvious increase in crowd population, Jenny & Johnny take the stage. The girlfriend/ boyfriend duo of Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley fame) and Jonathan Rice (of Jonathan Rice fame) share the stage wonderfully, batting eyelashes at each other from either side throughout the night. Playing pretty much their entire first album I’m Having Fun Now, including highlights Scissor Runner, Big Wave and My Pet Snakes, the set is a ripper. With only the minimum amount of banter recognised by a Melbourne crowd (who, in all honesty, don’t really seem to get into the show until the last 20 minutes), Lewis & Rice and their backing two-piece band run things very smoothly on stage, without even the slightest awkward pause.

Lewis and her seductive gaze ensures there’s not a red-blooded male in the room who doesn’t dream to be her bass guitar strap (classic Dream Weaver “sha-winggggg” moment), and Rice carries enough indie cred to keep the skinniest of jean upright.

After a very weird encore break, where the duo just hover side of stage, visible to most, they come back on for an acoustic version of Rilo Kiley’s Silver Lining. It’s a beautiful song made even more haunting by the acousticity (sure, that’s a word), and even the blatant mental blank suffered by Lewis isn’t enough to detract from it being the highlight of the night. Even the rain outside isn’t enough to wipe the smiles off all these faces.