The massive hype surrounding band Midnight Juggernauts has existed for a while now, and was hugely accentuated with the announcement of a string of small club shows at Richmond’s Corner Hotel. The Melbourne three-piece set out on the road to promote their new debut album Dystopia and already with an extensive fan base and a hugely successful couple of EPs it was no surprise that all three Corner shows sold out.

One could be forgiven for thinking an exorcist would be necessary as the first support act, Young And Restless riled through their set. Karina Utomo went berserk on stage, flailing around and screaming like crazy, seeming very much possessed. Too frequently she decided to pretend to play an instrument, throwing in some air guitar, air bass and air drumming.

Even though Young And Restless came out later than expected, the crowd consisted of a mere handful of punters, though it seemed to grow a little. Whilst the band’s death metal style rock started out fairly fresh and exciting, the repetitive screaming antics of Utomo and the major similarities in songs (her panting) grew rather tiresome quickly.

In between sets, DJ Comets delivered a stellar DJ set from decks on the floor side of stage. Having a live DJ was a brilliant addition to the line-up, and kept the growing crowd dancing around in anticipation for the headliners.

If the crowd had been lacking heads during Young And Restless, no one would have known when second support act, Damn Arms appeared before a nearing capacity crowd. Damn Arms seemed a more likely support act for Midnight Juggernauts, with their indie synth sounds creating a more dance friendly atmosphere (though nothing on DJ Comets).

Singer Yama Indra stood subtly behind his synths side of stage, whilst bassist Tim Sullivan moved energetically around to upbeat and progressive tracks like ‘Home Wrecker’ and ‘Test Pattern’. Yet another Melbourne band, Sullivan joked about the amount of shows they were playing at home that week, “What are we doing? Like, seven shows here?”

Midnight Juggernauts’ set began with a darkly red lit stage and drummer Daniel Stricker standing behind a single tom drum centre stage. As the introduction of ‘Scorpius’ began, Daniel smashed the drum, before the track abruptly ended and Vincent Juggernaut and Andy Juggernaut joined him on stage to build up and blast through opener ‘Road To Recovery’, which when it hit its climax sent everyone in the Corner into a dancing frenzy.

I was clear from the second the three were on stage that the lighting was going to be one of highlights of this show. The Juggernauts had filled the tiny Corner stage with their own lighting (the venue’s lighting itself leaves a lot to be desired). More than half a dozen massive swivel lights, several flood/spot lights and various others were positioned to the sides and back of stage. The main colour scheme was a mixture of purples and pale blues. Also adding to the visual element was a backdrop with the Dystopia artwork, which covered the entire back of stage and was filled with fairy lights.

The three piece delivered a solid hour of dance friendly tunes, including tracks from their EPs like ‘45 and Rising’ which were warmly met. ‘Ending Of An Era’, ‘Nine Lives’ and ‘Into The Galaxy’ were delivered with high energy, Andy moving and dancing around the stage, Daniel throttling his kit and Vincent coolly delivering his rapid vocals. Vincent’s facial expressions seemed to be something to keep an eye on, as his bottom jaw often moved so far across it no longer looked attached.

The energy on stage was reciprocated on the floor, with everyone dancing about. Slower tracks like ‘Dystopia’ were welcome rests and by no means took away from the atmosphere.

Andy took the vocals and warped them into a robotic sound for ‘Tombstone’, which really set the crowd off jumping. ‘So Many Frequencies’ and ‘Shadows’ followed on from this sudden burst of energy to finish the main set.

Finally the encore, which consisted of two older tracks, ‘Raised By Wolves’ and ‘Blitzkreig’ finished the night, the latter transforming into a progressive jam as Daniel again took his solitary tom drum and this time moved into the crowd, who happily trust him upwards onto a sea of arms as be beat the drum in the air.

The hype surrounding Midnight Juggernauts may or may not last well into the future. However, whether or not they remain as huge as they are at the moment, the performance they delivered on Friday night was fun and full of intense club energy, not to mention the awesome lighting that came along with it.

Photos by Anthony Smith