About once or twice every year a band will pop up on the radar of every important music press, heralded as the saviour of guitar rock. Their debut album will be listed in various top ten lists and they’ll tour the world. It isn’t until the band’s sophomore release that it becomes apparent whether or not they are just a passing fad or legitimately the next big thing. Even though Peace are still touring the world and their second album was generally received pretty well by critics, it is still unclear if they really are as important as everybody thought they were back in 2013 when In Love was first released. Like most second albums, Happy People does not break any new ground, but it does do everything the first album did in a bigger and bolder way, a statement that could also be applied to their tight live performance at The Zoo in Brisbane.

The same arguments about Peace’s originality and creativity circulate around their latest release and its promotional world tour, with the band still borrowing heavily from the Madchester and Britpop scenes. Peace may not be stretching the boundaries of their own sound, let alone indie rock, but they have certainly perfected what they’ve got and the sounds of yesteryear have never sounded more fresh. These last few years of touring must surely have helped them to refine their set, as there is nothing to fault them over in regards to their live performance; Dominic Boyce demonstrated commendable plasticity as the band’s drummer when he managed get through half a song without a high-hat, while front-man Harry Kossier was calm and collected, with a near perfect imitation of his recorded vocals. Certainly, Kossier is the greatest strength of Peace, as a fantastic guitarist in his own right, an accomplished vocalist and a clever songwriter.

The engaging live presence of Peace is undeniable, but it also became apparent during the set that they are at a point in their career where they need to make the transition from indie rock darlings into a more mature rock outfit or they risk becoming another vague footnote in music history. One only has to look at the recently reunited Blur as an example of a band who overcame their poppy shortcomings to explore a more multifaceted sound, while those that couldn’t, such as Oasis, will never be taken seriously. One aspect of Peace’s songs that certainly need work is their lyrics, which have improved since the debut album, but still retain remnants of bubblegum pop triviality. From insecurity about one’s physical appearance on the Creep-reminiscent Perfect Skin, to a critique on the merit and worth of money on the appropriately titled Money, many of the songs from Happy People feature all of the familiar pop song clichés.

Despite their lyrical juvenility, these songs were far more enjoyable in the live arena, with the band opening on Money to a rambunctious crowd response, seeing a host of alternative twenty-somethings surge to the front of the stage. They followed up with their original hit single Follow Baby, which holds up as well as it did when it was first released, even if the signature lyrics ‘We’re gonna live forever baby’ feel like a ghost from Britpop’s past, recalling Oasis’ massive hit Live Forever. They moved on with two new songs; the first of which projected a noticeably more melancholic undertone with lyrics such as ‘All you happy people let me know/how you do it/how you keep for so long’ from the ironically titled Happy People, the next, a more uplifting tune, with a bass-line recalling the Stone Roses during their prime, while also suggesting far earlier influences with Marc Bolan-esque vocals. Although Gen Strange is infectiously groovy, their next song demonstrated that the highlights of Peace’s debut have not quite been matched, with California Daze standing out from the rest of Peace’s set as an ethereal, nostalgic ode to youth.

The next three songs made up for the banality of the first couple of new tunes, with Lost on Me standing out as one of Peace’s most creative tunes so far, perfectly combining glam rock with indie guitar riffs and dance beats, like a long-lost cousin to a Happy Mondays tune. Even though I was critical earlier of the somewhat juvenile lyrics of songs like Perfect Skin and I’m a Girl, both are undeniably fun and catchy, and work far better in the live arena. The end of the set sees the mood dampen somewhat with Higher than the Ground and Bloodshake from their first album, both of which feel a little uninspired in comparison to the wonderful mid-stretch of the set.

Peace made up for this with an encore that tops pretty much anything else, including a clever Binary Finary trance song cover turned lush indie rock anthem. They follow with the slow burning Float Forever, which dragged down the pace once again and felt a bit like an unnecessary afterthought. Luckily their final tune World Pleasures picks up the pace, another Madchester rehash with a consistently groovy beat and coolly delivered half-talked vocals that ends the set on a joyous note and is a definite sign that Peace are a band that still have more to say.

- Jessica Darnell