Craig Nicholls, lead singer for The Vines [ tickets ], is either insane or brilliant. Thursday night (4/8) at The Wiltern LG in Los Angeles, he showed signs of both.

The Australian four-piece is now touring large theaters promoting its second album, "Winning Days," alongside a pair of other tough Aussies, Jet [ tickets ] and The Living End. Thunder from Down Under, if you please.

From the get-go, the Vines' Nicholls spent much of his evening fighting technical problems and his own schizo disposition. He didn't move to the music--he flailed in it; he didn't strut onstage, he was lucky to keep his balance. At times, especially early on, his singing was lousy.

But while the skinny frontman--in shaggy hair, a brown T-shirt and dark jeans--beat up his microphone in spastic fits, he was mesmerizing. After he dragged his Stratocaster across the stage and tossed it into the pit, he said, "You can keep it." Later, someone would ask for a beer, to which the singer responded, "I already gave you a guitar, now you want a beer?" Cool.

Oh yeah, and The Vines played some songs, too. Thank goodness. Among them, the hit "Get Free," from their debut album, and the new stone-cold rocker, "Animal Machine." "She's Got Something To Say" was a tawdry mess that was just right. As the band went into one of its acoustic ballads, Nicholls took a detour, singing the refrain from OutKast's "Ms. Jackson." Tasty. "We wanna thank you all for not leaving the building," he announced.

At the end of The Vines' set--and then again, at the end of their two-song encore--Nicholls was a skinny little Godzilla climbing the drummer's kit, tearing down toms and cymbals. Insane? No, brilliant.

Jet, meanwhile, offered a no-nonsense rock concert. Their throwback style is rooted in the same rhythm and blues as '60s garage rock like The Kinks. Sure, you might say all their hits sound like the same song--they do--but at least it's a great song. Jet makes you feel like an 18-year-old at the dance, hormones exploding like madness inside.

Jet don't say too much onstage beyond, "We came to party. Are you with us L.A.?" or the inveterate rock staple, "You feelin' good?" Yes, thanks for asking. So long as the boys in the band kept dropping hits of brash, leather-jacket-wearing glam, things would be just fine.

All the hits that fit into an hour were there. Jet opened with "Last Chance," whose riff is scarily reminiscent of Deep Purple's "Woman From Tokyo." Surprisingly, the band brought out hit "Cold Hard Bitch" as their number two song. It was an early treat, although the boys did seem a bit bored. "Rollover DJ," on the other hand, was loose and exuberant, recalling The Stones, even Iggy and the Stooges.

On "Get What You Need," drummer Chris Cester pounded a nasty floor tom like a warrior moments before the battle. Meanwhile, Nic Cester and Cameron Muncey offered plump jagged power chords that danced over the rhythm section's stop-and-go stomp.

Speaking of which: power trio The Living End is Australia's other rock-solid group of stop-and-go stompers--only these guys' love of rockabilly replaces Jet's and The Vine's fascination of classic rock and punk.

The Living End powered through a fierce 30-minute set of tunes, closing with “Second Solution,” off their self-titled ’98 LP. The band was a memorable sight. Singer Chris Cheney bolted up drummer Andy Strachan’s riser as Scott Owen, playing a flamboyant black and white checkered stand-up bass, actually jumped onto his instrument, balancing himself as he played a few measures. As the song crashed to a grand finale, Cheney raised his right arm and did his best Pete Townshend windmill. Finally, the band left to a flurry of noise and well-deserved applause.