A long and steep flight of stairs greets you as you approach the Revolver, posing a nightmare to most female punters wearing heels. But once the stairs are conquered, you are met with a decent-sized lounge with beautiful, intriguing paintings, bathed in a warm red glow.

Cloud City vocalist, Sarah Martin, had taken part in Australian Idol and it turned out that most of the audience then was made up of her friends and what she called “The Idol Rejects”. The atmosphere was really supportive and there were many call-outs to the frontwoman. The first couple of songs made me tap in time to the music, but Martin is seemed to suffer from being invisibly strapped to the microphone stand. The second guitarist, Allan Venn, offered backing vocals but was also had a fairly static stage presence. The band cite their vocal harmonies as their strength, but with the sound levels on the night, it was difficult to hear anything from the backup. The other members of the band, Ross Koger on the bass and Neil Maguire on the drums, on the other hand, were a totally different story. Even though the Maguire’s drumset was oddly small, he threw himself into the music he was creating. As did Koger.

Up next was Nucleus from Sydney who delivered an incredibly intense performance. Having come down from Sydney, they were adamant on putting on a spectacular show. Props such as gothic candle stands with incense were put out on display and it was clear that everyone in the band was extremely involved with the music. The movements of the band on the stage complemented the tribal beats of the two drum sets. The bassist even hopped off the stage in the middle of a song and did a little jig on the floor. The highlight of their set would have to be the last song with the harmonising vocals by Matt Quayle and Dylan Mitrovich that sent chills down my spine. That’s what I call perfection.

The main support act of the night was Alaska Ratio, an indie rock band currently working on their debut album. Drummer, Ben James, stole all the limelight with his nifty elbow swings and fluid hand gestures between beats, he managed to make the band entertaining to watch. The guitar became a bit too repetitive after awhile and Cameron James suffered from the same lack of movement that afflicted Cloud City. The bassist, Sam James (yes, they’re all James apparently), wasn’t much of an interesting sight either. The band was tight, but besides the engaging drum riffs, there wasn’t enough energy on stage.

It was finally time for the headlining act, A State of Flux. Roni Shewan approached the microphone in all her red splendour, silencing the crowd with perfect-pitched operatic vocals. Even the backdrop of a spinning disco ball wasn’t able to distract from Roni’s exceptional singing. Surface Tension, the song they were debuting, was stunning. They had a violinist join them for the single, and I was expecting a ripping solo in the higher octaves of the instrument, but unfortunately there wasn’t any. Matthew Delaney brandished some wicked bass rhythms while Red Black switched flawlessly between guitar and keyboards. The drums by Atticus Bastow were amazing, especially in the encore piece. Although Roni Shewan may seem a tad unforthcoming on stage because of her brilliant red dress and string of pearls, she addressed the audience in a very friendly tone in between most songs, shouting out dedications to various people and apologising when she accidentally butted in on Matthew when he was about to say something. The band were clearly enjoying themselves with huge grins and laughter. Their upcoming EP will definitely be one to check out.

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