Swarms of people began to edge their way into the Northcote Social Club from an early hour on Saturday night, eagerly awaiting a performance from The Vaudeville Smash on the final leg of their national EP launch tour. Those who arrived early enough were treated to some fine support acts from local artists Rosie and George and the Box Rockets – although neither slightly resemble the sound of The Vaudeville Smash.

The aesthetically pleasing Rosie and George are on the back end of a very successful residency at the Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy, where they impressed the crowds with their infectious folk-rock songs and charming harmonies. Stemmed from a collaboration between Rosie Hilder and George Loram back in high school, Rosie and George have since grown to include drummer Andrew ‘Staz’ Stasiac and bassist Will Newbould-Figg.

In their support set for Vaudeville Smash, the troupe performed several songs from first EP The Act and a selection from their forthcoming EP, which remains in the post-production stages. Despite a mildly sloppy start, Rosie and George pulled through with a tight performance, showing off Rosie’s sheer vocal talent and George’s unwavering guitar efficiency, as well as a voice to complement Rosie's perfectly. Evidently, the pair have been playing together for years as they seamlessly played their way through new and old material.

‘The Act’ was a standout, with the awesome drummer somehow managing to keep the beat while playing a glockenspiel simultaneously. During the final three songs, Rosie & George propelled themselves out of their shells to really show off their musical talents. Rosie’s beautiful, haunting voice lifted to new heights in ‘Daisy’ and ‘Carousel, while George’s rock-meets-folk guitar fuelled frenzied dancing amongst the crowd during ‘Voices’. Looking forward to hearing more from these guys in the future.

Onward in the night, the Box Rockets performed to an even fuller room, impressing those with a taste for indie-rock. And, this seemed to be a fair proportion of the attendees, with one young woman beginning to dance wildly from the very outset. Though they list their influences as everyone from the Beatles to Gorrilaz, I can’t help but compare the Box Rockets to a more minimalist version of Bodyjar – that’s not a negative! The set was tight, including songs such as ‘Good night’, ‘Stay’ and ‘Starry Eyes’. However, like with their forerunners, the standard of the music lifted significantly toward the end of the set. Catchy rhythm guitar prompted more dancing as a warm up to the main act, and the definite highlights of the sets were ‘Fishes’ and ‘So long’.

Finally, an ever-exuberant Vaudeville Smash hit up the stage, this time in a room full to capacity. Lack of elbow room, however, did not deter every single person in the crowd dancing wildly to this long-awaited set from the nouveau yacht-rock meets pop meets disco band. I felt like I’d plunged into a time warp, to what I think the eighties might have been like at its peak. Dance-offs were happening all over the room, and I can say with confidence that the entire audience was in a state of utmost happiness. And aside from the pure entertainment value of the Vaudeville Smash, it’s noteworthy that all band members are incredible musicians in their own right.

When Marc Lucchesi wasn’t beautifully bellowing the lyrics to each song, he would on occasion pick-up a saxophone and later a flute for a jammin’ solo. The other brothers who helped form the band, Dan and Luca Lucchesi, keep the pace impeccably as Drums and Bass, while Percy Landers on Synth, Nic Lam on Guitar and Ben Timmis on keys all play their part in making this flow of dance music seem effortless.

Though I was far too busy winning a dance-off to take note of the order of songs, I remember explicitly the infectious rhythm guitar from ‘Roller Disco’, reminding me of Steely Dan, happening early on. The fast-paced songs were clear winners of the practically flawless set, including ‘Body Double’. But, once again, the true highlights of the entire night were the final two songs of the set. ‘Dirty Old Man (Come inside)’ was amazing as it prompted a huge proportion of the crowd to singalong to the words: ‘He likes to get it on, get it on with his slippers on, he likes to get it on, the mother fucker likes to get it on’.

The 8-minute song is like a giant disco jam, with a long instrumental intermission before the chants began: ‘Come inside, everything’s gonna be fine, take off your coat, everything’s gonna be fine, lose the shoes, everything’s gonna be fine, you’re fucking beautiful, you blow my mind!!!’. By this point, everyone was sweaty and so involved in the music it was too hard to dance-off, one just had to dance. The Vaudeville Smash topped off the set with a rendition of ‘Hey’, which is indubitably one of their catchiest songs.

To sum it up, I have to quote the Vaudeville Smash’s facebook description which is so accurate I couldn’t even try to beat it: “They’re good looking. They’re humble. They recognise a good hook when a good hook comes knocking. Their live show is gonna f#@k you up.”. And yes, it will. But in the best possible way.