Australian bands regularly perform at pretty big London venues and ordinarily go unnoticed by anyone aside from their fellow countrymen. Brisbane twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, who are The Veronicas, have bigger plans.

Since conquering their homeland, where their second album, Hook Me Up, went double platinum in 2007, the child actresses have upped sticks to Los Angeles and started auditioning for the rest of the world. Hook Me Up is only getting a full release here next month but if they are sick of its songs two years on, they didn’t show it here.

Just as peroxide blonde Jessica and raven black Lisa emphasise their physical differences, so their music to date comes as two halves. Earlier hits such as Everything I’m Not were chugging pop-punk in the Avril Lavigne mode, before they turned to whizzy electronica for the more interesting second album. In both styles they produced tunes so catchy they could keep you awake at night.

In concert they all but buried the synths under rock sludge, losing the crisp feel of sole UK hit Untouched, but it was nice to see a pop act giving a performance so unconcerned with polish. They were backed by a trio of American men with cartoon punk hairstyles, including a drummer who flailed around so wildly that it was amazing he didn’t brain an audience member, or at least himself.

His incessant stick-twiddling failed to distract from the high harmonies of the strutting siblings, who ably matched the hyperactive pace of tracks such as This is How it Feels and 4Ever. An acoustic interlude, including melodic highlight This Love, was necessary to prevent a feeling of being completely steamrollered.

The Origliassos charmed as energetically as they sang, claiming this audience to be incredibly good looking in its entirety and even trying the old favourite, loving our accents. If you sold records through effort alone, they’d be number one tomorrow.