It’s been a while since local heroes End of Fashion have played a show to a Perth crowd. You can forgive them though, working hard on their debut album, ping-ponging between Perth and America. The band’s home crowd tonight were treated to a selection of tracks from said debut album as well as a healthy dose of live favourites.

Early punters were treated to some great supports in the form of One Horse Town and The Fuzz. As the crowd built, One Horse Town did their best to win the crowd over, but received modest applause at best. Their performance was on the ball, but the majority of the crowd arrived during The Fuzz’s set. Sure, all their songs sound the same, but still, the Fuzz’s songs all rock and frontperson Abbe May’s stage presence wins the crowd over. They play for about 45 minutes in three to four minute bursts and the beer flows freely as this five-piecegives us their best.

Make no mistake, End of Fashion are the reason everyone is here. The crowd is a strange mix of indie types and commercial radio listeners, but only the biggest scrooge won’t enjoy tonight’s performance.

The band opens with She’s Love from the 2004 Anything Goes/Rough Diamonds EP and though it’s a bizarre choice for an opener, it gets a good reception and sets the crowd up perfectly for the following track, Anything Goes. Along with the title track from last year’s Too Careful EP, the early stages of the set cast many punters’ minds back to the times they belted the same songs out at the same venue a couple of years ago.

Of course, back in 2003 the band looked a little different. There has several several lineup changes and a huge amount of new material entering the set, but tonight it’s all the parallels between End of Fashion then and End of Fashion now that make the gig such an experience.

The reception of new single O Yeah illustrates the differences between the old and the new perfectly. The song has been a constant inclusion in the setlist for over a year, but back then it was tame and drew a pretty weak response wheras tonight it gets the biggest cheer of the night. Frontman Justin Burford spits out the words as coolly as ever, but looks genuinly surprised as the front row sings along with every word.

Though they’re not quite as good, there are more new songs that sound just as polished and just as professional. Though the performance could be faulted as being slightly contrived, the new songs are pulled off to perfection and one gets the impression that this is indicative of the the soon-to-be-released long player.

The best moment though, is when Burford plays the opening chords to the band’s first hit, Rough Diamonds. “I don’t even have to sing the words,” as the Perth crowd takes his place on lead vocals. Written for Burford’s girlfriend, Little Birdy vocalist Katy Steele, the song seems that bit more special amid rumours that Steele is in tonight’s crowd. The crowd in fact, is a who’s-who of the Perth scene, with various ex members (The Sleepy Jackson’s Malcolm Clarke, Jebediah’s Vanessa Thornton) turning up to have a listen to the new End of Fashion.

After a couple more unannounced songs from the album, the band leaves the stage bringing the curtain down on a tight, impressive performance. Within minutes though, the members return for a quickfire version of the band’s signature set-closer, Counting Your Friends from the Too Careful EP. It’s fast, furious and oozes everything that is rock ‘n’ roll. This is End of Fashion at their best. With a bit of luck, the album will be just as good.