We'll have to make this a quick one. Just the facts, man.

Garage punks Wayne Pain & the Shit Stains opened the night with eleven quick thrusts. The short set covered most fan favorites, plus a ragged cover of Deluxx Folk Implosion's "Daddy Never Understood" that I hadn't heard them do before. But the combination of a high stage, a sober start time, and a sound engineer who polished away all the vital scuzz ensured that frontman Kenneth Kupfer was not his normal transgressive self. I mean, where was the blood?

Next The Whiffs found time for a dozen of their power pop gems. The foursome got the formula just about right – tight compositions and a loose performance. Three-part harmony on "She" and a couple of new ones made this set a winner. "This one has only been played once before. Last time it was rehearsed, so it will sound even newer this time." I love this band. The whole world does.

Mark Sultan deserves more words but really, he summed it all up when he called himself a rock 'n' roll lifer. Over 45 minutes he played maybe a dozen songs – all from the garage, but, like, a well-kept one. Like the one where those nice Beach Boys practiced in. Some songs came from his various bands, and some were borrowed. He was a little grumpy, and his ample banter was a bit ribald, but he was still Canadian. He started the set with five songs on guitar backed by simple pre-recorded tracks, then moved to a small drumkit that allowed him to stomp for kick and snare while he played guitar and sang. There he began a non-stop medley of similarly arranged songs that mostly included the word "baby." The audience sang along on the choruses, and for a couple of songs they climbed on stage to sing more.