It’s a chicken-and-egg thing, really. Does a great show make a great audience, or does a show need an enthused, engaged following to rise above the countless other gigs taking place around the city on any given night? Because on the strength of their debut album, At Sea, Melbourne’s Custom Kings deserve a killer crowd, but aren’t exactly the most scintillating live proposition going round at the moment. So, should the fans they have garnered since the record’s release who attended the estimable Northcote Social Club step up and get enthused, perhaps elevating the show to a new level, or should they sit back, arms folded and wait for the band to produce a live performance worthy of the songs it contains?

It appears that the Kings’ local fans have opted for the latter, judging by the poor etiquette on display on Saturday night. It certainly created an extra challenge for the Kings to overcome. In all likelihood, they faced the challenge consistent across all talented new bands that have managed a minor commercial radio hit: the one-song fan. As Augie March could attest as their crowds suddenly light up upon the opening notes of ‘One Crowded Hour’, there were many disinterested attendees who were almost certainly there to pay attention to one song only, that being ‘Up Late’.

There is, however, one unarguable factor that they have going for them, irrespective of how they perform live – At Sea contains some killer tracks, which is a pretty important first step. Numbers like ‘Red Sails’, Crazy Drunk’, ‘Ocean’ and ‘Cheri’, all standouts from At Sea, translated well enough to the stage, with the band demonstrating considerable mastery of the art of setting levels and harmonizing live.

And Custom Kings are not, it must be said, poor live performers, but anonymous, forgettable and a shade bland. Things are kept tight and punchy, with a solid set list (an impressive enough feat for a group with one long playing release to its name) and very little banter. What was lacking was performance. Verve. A certain je ne se qua, if you will. Bouncy, reggae-influenced numbers like ‘Number One’ deserve, nay, require, an energetic frontman pushing the song out to the crowd, someone who can create an energetic reception among the audience.

Unfortunately, singer/guitarist/keyboardist Nick Vorrath is not that man right now. His nasal white-boy raps, funky and frankly fairly unique on the Australian scene, became staid on the night, Vorrath’s apparent lack of confidence or showmanship allowing the crowd to focus its attention elsewhere, usually a conversation with a cohort, in a display of discourtesy that was all too common on the night. Second lead singer Yodge Wheelahan, who also contributed trumpet, guitar, keys and harmonica skills, took the mic for a couple of tracks also, and suffered the same banal malaise, performing solidly but unspectacularly, some spectacle being all that was missing on the night.

All this being said gives the impression that Custom Kings put on a bad show. Far from it. When you’ve got a bunch of great reggae-pop songs to wheel out, it requires an Augie March-style meltdown to really cock things up, and the Kings were professional at the very least. Most pleasing of all was the band’s reluctance to perform an obligatory encore, Vorrath instead dismissing his bandmates backstage for a moment, presenting a gentle solo number on piano, before recalling his compatriots to close on their big number, ‘Up Late’, which, of course, managed to rouse the previously apathetic crowd somewhat and close the evening on a positive note.

The Custom Kings have certainly established through At Sea that they have a future in the industry, and to have achieved a fan base such as they have without developing a staggering live show speaks highly of the quality of their songwriting. But if they really want to take off and win the kind of devoted fans a band needs to achieve longevity, they need to inject their live performances with something. An X- factor. Something energetic, chaotic or surprising. Until then, they may have to put up with indifferent audiences for some time.