Reviewed onMonday May 16
How great is the Enmore Theatre? The grand old dame of a live music venue is Sydney’s longest running, and it never fails to impress. Sure, the air conditioning has conked out once or twice in its time, and the ground floor can shake like a mother, but it damn well knows how to host a party. And as ’80s revivalists and saxophone enthusiasts M83’s home for one night, it was no different.
Opening the show was the somewhat surprising choice of Japanese Wallpaper, AKA Gab Strum. Charming as his twinkly tunes may be, they fall far from the bonkers big sound of M83. And the Melbourne-born multi-instrumentalist’s set was just and only that – charming. His cover of Björk’s ‘Hyperballad’ indeed reflected a heartfelt love for the Icelandic superstar, but stripped the original of its dark wonderment. In comparison, new song ‘Cocoon’ was a little beauty, lifting the mood with a pulsating beat and rolling melody. And despite a false start, Airling’s performance on ‘Forces’ was a nice surprise.
Rather like a Keith Haring artwork come to life, M83 took to the stage against a black backdrop and scattered neon lights with ferociously frenetic energy. Start to finish, it was a rhapsodic, ear-drum-melting performance by the French but LA-based five-piece. Founder and lead singer Anthony Gonzalez had hilariously limited banter. In the middle of set opener ‘Reunion’ he rallied, “Let’s have some fun, let’s dance, let’s be crazy.” After that, the songs were rarely interrupted or introduced, and he only ever really repeated the word “Sydney”, often in threes.
It is an unusual gig when there is no absolute standout, when each song is an utter killer. ‘Do It, Try It’ from their latest album Junk was blisteringly explosive, ‘Walkway Blues’ was an entrancing slow-builder, and somehow ‘Road Blaster’ managed to be even funkier, jazzier and rockier live. But as expected, ‘Midnight City’, their mammoth single from 2011’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, received the biggest response from the audience, causing a mini-riot.
While Gonzalez naturally attracted a lot of attention, the whole band was transfixing to watch. Guitarist and sometime vocalist Jordan Lawlor had some crazy-hypnotic dance moves. And singer and synth player Kaela Sinclair enraptured, hitting all of Susanne Sundfør’s demanding notes on sci-fi theme ‘Oblivion’. Altogether, it was a commanding and truly memorable gig. Until next time.
