To end the Annandale Hotel's 11th birthday celebrations, the fifth edition of Blood Sweat and Beers takes over for a weekend-long extravaganza of some of the best underground punk rock from across the country. Spanning both Saturday and Sunday for the first time, this has to be one of the best lineups they have put together, and after past Blood Sweat and Beers events I was keen to see what bands they could unearth this time around to energise my senses.

Day 1 begins outside, at the acoustic stage. A good size crowd is present at the start of the day for Lucy Wilson from Melbourne, as she plays a sweet set of songs. She was later joined by Wil Wagner, providing an entertaining, relaxed and enjoyable start to a day. The acoustic stage itself is a nice addition to what is otherwise a punk rock event. The organisers do a good effort to mix things up a bit to allay any fears of monotonous rhythms as will be discovered by many revelers later in the day.

Homeward Bound open the show inside. Perhaps not the most talented band performing, for an opening act they go hard on stage, laying the punk rock vibes and doing a good job waking everyone up from their Friday night hangovers. Second up is Bayonets for Legs; previous winners of the Annandale's Jager Uprising band comp. This is more of a melodic and mellow indie pop band. A generally tight performance that was greeted more by chat amongst the crowd as it grew in number, and people discussed what they were looking forward to later in the day.

Headaches, from Brisbane, take to the main stage next as we move back to some punk stylings. The vocals for his band seems to have more of an American pop punk influence to it. They do have a good stage presence, and a decent sound. They just suffer on this lineup from having no real edge, and were soon to be forgotten when The Outsiders from New Zealand arrived after them. Playing a blend of alternative thrash punk rock, they were easily the best band so far today. Their energy on stage is infectious, and their drummer is an absolute machine. Definitely the highlight of the early afternoon.

Back to the main stage, we have a change of direction in the form of Jen Buxton & Jamie Hay. An Australian punk stalwart, Jamie Hay has been working on his own solo acoustic work of late, and was invited by the organisers in an obvious (yet genius) move to pair him with fellow Novocastrian, and highlight of the acoustic stage from Blood Sweat and Beers 3, Jen Buxton. The main room was packed by this point, with Jen and Jamie switching between their own songs and the odd country duet. They had the crowd in the palm of their hands, each song receiving thunderous applause, and I would have to put this pair as two of the best acoustic singer-songwriters in Australia at this moment.

The Corps line up next on the rear stage. This band has some age between its members, and this comes across in their sound. To be honest, if I closed my eyes you could have fooled me by saying they were an '80s hair band doing the opening support for Motley Crew and Poison. This is a five piece band with two lead guitarists rocking out the venue, however with all that being said, after the last two acts they did bore me a little, and so I positioned myself at the main stage in wait for the most talked about band of the day.

Wil Wagner and The Smith Street Band walk onto the stage looking like they had just walked out of the lounge room of a pot smoke filled share house in Melbourne. No effort has been made for presentation, but these guys don't need a gimmick. This is a blend of indie folk punk which is an evolution from Wil Wagners solo acoustic work. Wil's lyrical ability is astounding, and his song writing style comes across as well developed beyond his years. The emotion in his songs, and the great - though perhaps overuse - of silence as an instrument was very effective. Just see these guys if you can, seriously.

So how do you follow that? You bring on Graveyard Train. Horror country at its one and only best. Opening with "Scarecrow", a quick glance around the crowd showed some shocked but surprised faces. Bikies and punks alike had a blank look as the opening song finished, and then broke into rapturous applause. It's hard to dislike this band whatever age or musical background you stem from. The quirky style and presence crossed with what are very well written songs, a great use of man-choir singing, with music that you can also dance to, goes to show why this band continues to be talked about and continues to grow in stature. Death and horror has never been so fun. The set itself was based around the faster and more danceable tracks in their repertoire, including "Mummy", "Run Billy Run", "Even Witches Like to Go Out Dancing", and finished with the usual "All Will Be Gone". It was a shame they ended so soon.

With a heavy heart, I watch Area 7 take the stage. Slightly late. They have a very rusty start, though fold back issues could be blamed for this. An unresponsive crowd made this performance difficult, and despite all this, and following some incredible acts, I have to give props to Area 7 for fighting on. They had the most well rehearsed performance of the night, everything organised. Timed jumps, chances for the audience to sing, all the tricks of the trade that make well established bands always stand above those of lesser years. By the end, the crowd could not resist the call of such Aussie ska hits as "Himbo", "Leave Me Alone", and "Second Class Citizen". A classy performance.

Last, but not least, perhaps the most talked about band in Sydney for the past year has to be The Snowdroppers. Another great use of theme based style. Using old style Southern American Mississippi Blues, with lyrics based around the devil and mentions of the bible, as if they had time travelled forward to our time and added some post punk edgings to their sound. Johnny Wishbone is a master on stage as a storyteller. You could imagine from his expressions that he is telling you everything for the first time as if he is still shocked from just seeing it occur. Definitely a fun live band, with "Rosemary" being the standout track. A worthy headliner and finish to a great day of music.

There were many highlights today, and it's strange to think that the most appreciated bands of the day were those not from the punk rock genre. I don't know if this has something to say about the current status of punk rock in Australia, or the fact that the organisers just chose the best of the other genres to add spice and edge, and with respect for their audience to provide an all round music experience that makes this such an enjoyable event. It's a shame that given so much talent, bands like The Corps and Area 7 struggled in their slots to please the crowd. It was just lucky Area 7 had the experience to save themselves. After this, however, I was excited for day two, which seemed to be where the better punk bands were lined up.