I was a surprised when I saw that Faker had announced a headline tour; after all, they’d only released one song off their upcoming third record, and that was months ago. However, I was interested in seeing which direction the Sydney act had gone in, musically, during their absence from the live scene. That, and they played at one of the first music festivals I’d ever attended, so tonight’s show at Jive was as much a trip down memory lane as it was about the new tunes for me.

When Melbourne five piece Loon Lake eventually took up their instruments, Jive was semi-full of patrons content to have the band’s Summer-y indie tunes as background music to their conversations, as they waited for the headliners. A few songs in, and people gradually caught on to what was happening onstage, and began to bop along, even though there were only a few people who knew the general lyrics to some songs. These guys were good - I have to give them props for knowing their way around guitars especially, but unfortunately, we live in an age where what was considered to be fresh and ‘indie’ five or so years ago now runs the high risk of fading into blandness.

The lead singer added some grit and edge to the light and poppy nature of Loon Lake’s overall sound, but I couldn’t help but think that some of the percussion sections had been done so many times before, and a few of the guitar riffs were rather predictable. With the commercial appeal of The Kooks and some garage-like energy reminiscent of the 'Philly Jays', Loon Lake impressed me as a group of musicians, considering this was the first time I’d seen the band live. “In The Summer”, of course, brought the biggest response once people figured out that they were the guys who sung that song, and the band garnered a decent applause following the end of their set. A decent opening act who got people approaching the stage – I can’t judge them too badly for that.

Faker’s entrance brought a smattering of applause, and again, it didn’t seem as if the majority of the crowd seemed comfortable to completely get into the swing of things until the first few songs were out of the way. I was surprised with the amount of material the band performed off 2005’s Addicted Romantic record, as I was expecting the set to be one that was predominantly based around showcasing the newer material, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Nathan Hudson (vocals) seemed to zone out when he performed, and looked to be really trying to project high levels of energy with every song.

As usual, the sound tech at Jive made the audio way too loud, and whenever Hudson would take time to explain any of the songs, I couldn’t make out what he was saying, so I just whooped and applauded like everyone else. Giving the crowd a taste of what to expect on the upcoming album Get Loved, it seems as if Faker are dabbling in dance-electro, whilst still keeping the formula of their already well-established indie rock in check. Crowd favourites included “Hurricane”, “Are You Magnetic?”, and “Dangerous”, whilst “This Heart Attack” possibly brought the biggest response of the night.

While I can’t say that Faker blew my mind and raised all my expectations for live bands to come, I really enjoyed their performance tonight. The band performed a tight set, and proved that they can still entertain, even if they haven’t been playing consistently over the past few years. To me, when I saw them in 2005, I didn’t know what to think of their sound, considering the big fad at that time was the genre of rock more akin to the Grinspoons and the early Gyroscopes. Seeing them now, where this sort of ‘indie rock’ is at its peak, it was interesting to see how the band had developed with the change in trend.

Bring on album number three.