From a distance, Ducktails frontman Matt Mondanile looks slightly like an un-permed Weird Al Yankovic.

As rightly acclaimed as his band’s hypnotic pop is, it’s a shame this mostly lifeless show lacked the fun factor a cameo Weird Al appearance would have offered.

A boiling hot Hope, down one air conditioner and with sweaty punters huddled around its temporary replacement, didn’t help the limp support band, local youngsters Fake Laugh. With bland indie pop tunes chugging along monotonously, this made for a sagging opening set.

Ducktails’ sound is more than a little akin to New Jersey native Mondanile’s other band, Real Estate, in that the distorted, laid-back psychedelic haze has some quality soft-rock songwriting buried beneath the cassette-recorded grittiness.

Lumped in with the ultra-hip happenings of the chillwave trend a couple of years back, the meandering live package here suffered the same lack of energy that has befallen similar acts, leaving audiences cold.

With an unhurried performance recalling Kurt Vile, early REM and Big Star, a rapidly dwindling crowd barely seemed to care.

Reaching a crescendo of sorts, not even what should have been an enthralling Doors-style psyche guitar wig-out could rouse this crowd from its slumber.