Despite the nowhere-near-capacity crowd, Melbourne's Snout put on a ripsnorter of a 40-minute set. They've never sounded as large as they do tonight - they're just at home here as they are on the postage stamp-size stage at The Chelsea. All the familiar tunes get a roar of approval, not least current single 'Got Sold On Heaven'. If you weren't sold on Snout before tonight's show, you surely must be now.  

Ben Folds Five are livin' in the 70s - it's never more obvious than in their live shows. It's in their exaggerated flamboyance, their mock excess and, of course, their sound. How many of the disproportionately young crowd are picking up on the retro angle is questionable, but enthusiasm counts for something - and boy, have they got it. There hasn't been this much swaying and singing of words since, well, the Ben Folds Five show at Livid last year.  

Ben Folds has the power... to transport you to another era. You're thinking Elton John, when he gets intimate. You're thinking Peter Allen on acid. You're thinking Led Zeppelin when Folds really lets go and loses his deep resonant voice for a quaky falsetto. Sometimes, you're thinking The Beatles, in a crazy Sgt. Pepper's kind of a way. You're sure as hell not thinking Billy Joel.  

There's a certain arrogance that the threesome bring to their live show that is simply not apparent on record. It serves to widen the divide between band and audience; and you get the impression that Ben Folds Five aren't here to make you feel warm and fuzzy. They're bitter and twisted ('Song For The Dumped'), they're glum ('Brick'), and they'll thumb their noses at whoever they please ('Underground'). They're in charge.  

If it wasn't for their sense of humour, they'd be a right bunch of tossers - it colours the show, right down to the very tame ending to follow all the big bangs. The baby grand suffers under Folds' hammering fists and cops the piano stool a couple of times. The drums and bass get a little more respect, but it's clear that this band doesn't believe its instruments have souls.  

But if you don't believe they're giving their all, check out Folds' hands - after only two songs, he's forced to stop for first aid. He's giving his blood for you and you'd better like it, baby.