The excitement of a long weekend leads to five o’clock beers at this cheapish place that has no atmosphere, but cheapish beers. Both boys and girls start drinking and the gender divide becomes immediately evident in the conversation topics: men = footy/women = Sex and the City. But I don’t want to seem too snobbish, so I join in on the Sex and the City conversation for a while (also, I’m sick of talking to one-eyed Hawthorn supporters about the loose cannon that is Buddy Franklin).

“Do you know the ending?” I ask Michelle.

“No and I don’t want to. All the girls know it, but I’ve told them not to tell me, and I try and overt my eyes from all the gossip mags”.

I wholeheartedly agree – both about the ending and the need to overt eyes from gossip mags. Whether it be Sex and the City, the footy scores, or a gig, the best part of an event is its unfolding, the delivery of something unexpected.

Now I’d never seen The Thrills live but I wondered: do I know the ending to this before it has even begun? How do such a clean, studio sounding band deviate from their clearly defined pop pedigree?

The answer is, simply, they don’t. The Thrills, playing in the humid confines of Melbourne’s Hi-Fi Bar, sound exactly as you’d expect them to. The bouncy, string pop of night closer ‘Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?’ sounded as energetic and as crisp as the Let’s Bottle Bohemia version, frontman Conor Deasy had the same uniqueness about his voice and the set list contained the sprinkling of hits-and-pieces that you’d expect.

Unsurprisingly, the live highlights were also the band’s best album songs. An audience-requested ‘One Horse Town’ had those swirling West Coast harmonies that put the band on the map in the first place, the jaunty ‘Faded Beauty Queens’ one of a few gems from the superb Let’s Bottle Bohemia. Occasionally some of the more introspective tracks from Teenager caused a slight lull in the mood, but The Thrills’ experience ensured that they were appropriately spaced next to the more upbeat and immediate.

Apart from slight pacing issues there was little to criticise about the gig, other than the fact that songs merged into each other – something only exasperated by the distinctive sound of Deasy. But is this enough?

For those with an ear for well-crafted and smartly executed tunes – those listeners who enjoy a live show that replicates rather than reinvents – then the Dublin five-piece are an entertaining enough night out. But for those who like their live music experience to yield the unexpected and the amazing, The Thrills are not your band.