walking rek

Sydney loves the Presets. With all the madness surrounding their recent album release it came as no surprise that this gig had well and truly sold out prior to doors on Saturday nite. Having caught these guys earlier in the year I too was looking forward to sweating it out again under the capricious spell of the Presets.We started proceedings for the evening down the road at the Century Tavern where they sell the largest $3.50 middies of beer in Sydney. You can also smoke unimpeded in relative indie comfort high above the chaos of George Street.
Back at the Metro The Valentino’s were prowling around stage in their tight jeans and flat hair. They produce a sound very much like the Cure meets Richie Valens, 60’s surf rock with steel guitar and moody unintelligible vocals. The lead singer must have had his jeans a little too tight as he seemed to have enormous trouble staying upright – he spent a good portion of their set writhing about on the stage behind the drums. The drummer himself was also a good laugh: when he wasn’t thrashing about like the guy from Def Leppard he was blabbering on about some bouncer in Brisbane who did him wrong. Regardless of these hilarious antics, The Valentino’s did play with panache, especially the guy on steel guitar.

Whilst we were blinded by the first big laser I’ve seen in years, The Presets creeped out in clear plastic masks that warped their features in a greasy fashion. This 2 piece powerhouse of dark electro pop are certainly entertaining to watch and tremendous fun to dance to: their disjointed rhythms and jagged melodies swing between the hypnotic and stabbing, the raunchy and the angular. The guy on drums didn’t stay there for long, he was up and about, punching and kicking the air, dancing like an old school raver in his smiley tshirt. The lead singer was flicking his power fringe all over the place and seducing the crowd with his alluring lyrics and sardonic delivery.

I couldn’t say which was my favourite moment, but when they threw the big balloons out into the crowd it brought on a major flashback! The steamy conditions on the dancefloor were exacerbated by the saucy sounds and those in the front row started crawling onto the stage and soon there was another inferno up there. Aye carumba, this was something else.

The Presets demolished their 60 minute set all too quickly for my liking. Left high and dry after a wild and sweaty session on the tiles, I could’ve danced all nite. Lucky for me I have the album so I can re-live the gig again and again til I see them next time. Won’t you join me?