Reviewed onTuesday December 15
Neon Indian’s latest output Vega Intl. Night School has brought them back to Sydney for the first time in years. If you were expecting a repeat of 2011’s Era Extraña tour, you’d have felt like you were watching a different band on Tuesday night at Oxford Art Factory.
Vega Intl. is a complete departure from their earlier work, but just like Era Extraña, their sound still lends itself to a lot of dancing – albeit with a more ’80s, pan-pipey bent. And while we’re on the subject, frontman Alan Palomo did a lot of impressive footwork sending his curl-topped undercut into a spin. For that part of the show alone, it was peak ’80s.
The set opened with some of the tastier titbits from the new album including the singles ‘Annie’ and ‘The Glitzy Hive’, a ridiculously fun retro-inspired dance track.
The room was riding on the guys’ exuberant energy, as we all collectively plumbed the depths of their nostalgic tunes. There were nods to their 2011 output with renditions of ‘Terminally Chill’ as well as earlier work with the tracks ‘Mind, Drips’ and ‘Deadbeat Summer’.
The encore embraced the old with the chill computer noise of Era Extraña’s ‘Polish Girl’. By night’s end we were firmly back in ’80s-’00s crossover land with ‘News From The Sun’ the finale.
A bit of the old, a lot of the new – all in all, a fun night and a great performance.
