Powderfinger are huge in Australia. Hardly a claim to conjure with; "big in Germany" and even "fairly popular in Canada" sound more impressive. But an act who have gone five times platinum in their native country, played America's top-rated Letterman show and look set to storm our shores with three sell-out nights at the Shepherd's Bush Empire should have plenty to boast about.
Yet these five serious, intense young men are too earnest to stoop to bragging. You see, Powderfinger really mean it, man. They write meaningful songs about important subjects and use dramatic chord changes to emphasise their points. A screen behind them shows the sun rising and the moon orbiting the earth to show just how momentous their vision is. They bear an uncanny resemblance to Simple Minds at the height of Jim Kerr's pomposity, or U2 before Bono shed the stetson and discovered irony.
All of which is a shame, because it devalues Powderfinger's occasional knack of turning out an impressive tune. Their new track Like a Dog rails powerfully against the policies of Australia's right-wing government, yet fails to make its mark amid the bombast of the rest of the set. When every song sounds equally epochal and weighty, it's difficult to get a sense of perspective.
This would not be a problem if the band had a consistent grasp of melody or some kind of confrontational rock'n'roll attitude; they have neither. Indeed, you would expect an act four albums down the line to have moved on from the trad-rock limitations abandoned by Radiohead after Pablo Honey. And, to add insult to injury, it's hard to imagine rebellion coming any politer than Powderfinger. There's no danger of trashed stages or threats to lead the revolution; just ponderous songs in a minor key and singer Bernard Fanning frowning through his fringe. You know that the spirit of 1976 is dead when a few hapless crowd-surfers are reprimanded by Fanning: "Someone might get hurt."
Judging by the number of antipodean accents in the crowd, those forthcoming shows in west London will be attended mainly by residents of nearby Earl's Court. Perhaps the UK is safe, as yet, from Powderfinger's allure. But if they lightened up a little, things could be very different.
• At the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London W12 (020-7771 2000), from today until Saturday.
