Nevereverland @ BelvoirAmphitheatre, Perth, 21/12/08

Wed 24th Dec, 2008 in Gig Reviews

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Celebrating 10 years of Modular, Nevereverland went bush at Perth’s Belvoir Amphitheatre not unlike the magical Peter Pan Neverland forest. The success of Modular after ten years was certainly demonstrated on that warm sunny Sunday afternoon. Among the acts were some of the most successful Australian and international groups to form an impressive line up in an attempt to emulate the impossible; last year’s show with Daft Punk.

Finally it was Perth’s turn to experience the magical dance fest among the gum trees, which provided shade in the early afternoon and then ambience when sun went down, lighting up the tree tops.

While the location was peaceful and beautiful, the same can’t be said about the raucous and fashion enslaved crowd that were tearing up the dance area from the word go and loving every minute of it. Ok that’s a bit unfair, the girls were very attractive but they started to look like clones of each other, wearing the same short dresses (so much visible underwear), hair style with those hippy headbands, tan (spray or solarium who can tell these days) and gladiator sandals with never ending buckles. Some fellas thought they should take their shirts off even though it wasn’t that warm but certainly warm enough to get sun burnt. Skin cancer people! Typically, many man/boy undies were protruding to keep in line with the boy fashion which just won’t seem to die. Santa took time from his busy schedule for a visit but got pretty warm in his suit after a while and the Easter Bunny made an appearance a little early to shake his tail to the tunes.

This crowd was enjoying the event from the very beginning, with Tame Impala opening the show as the crowd formed. The amphitheatre was filling up pretty quickly in front of the stage and all around the upper levels; the latter allowing short people to get a full view of the bands. Ladyhawke excited the audience with the infectious Paris Is Burning and My Delirium, with the crowd going a little nuts, during which the first of the security breaches occurred as fence jumpers sprinted down into the masses to hide. It seems the global financial crisis has hit Perth hard as there were packs of animalistic youngsters dodging the laughable security measures in place to get a chance to see the bands for free. The piss weak security guards did their best but really the fencing was low and could be moved around. Honestly, what ever happened to big arse security guards solid fencing and barbed wire? They were gagging for people to break in.

While all this was going on in the background, many were enjoying the groovy disco sounds of Whitest Boy Alive and Hercules & Love Affair. But the crowd went truly wild as they raced toward the amphitheatre when pop Kings*Cut Copy* appeared on stage, going mental to all the hits including everyone’s favourite, Hearts On Fire. The Gang Bang DJs were giving the decks a good banging between sets before the highly anticipated Klaxons took the stage. While Cut Copy enticed the crowd with arm waving, fist punching energy, the Klaxons induced a more mellow and ethereal level of dance activity as they oo-ed and ahh-ed throughout their set with a dash of virility from tracks such as Atlantis To Interzone. The boys were looking very UK cool in their tight black clothing and sunnies as they moved about the stage before allowing the rest of the bands to come on stage with them and have a big dance off before the tremendously amazing duo The Presets were due.

By this time, the Perth crowd stepped up its obsession with throwing rubbish everywhere that it felt like a one day cricket match at the WACA. After what seemed like an agonising wait (but not that long really) for the highlight of the evening, the crowd swelled. Of course there were a few morons that only bothered to head to the amphitheatre when The Presets were already on stage, knocking over the odd person on the upper boundaries in their haste. The set began with Talk Like That echoing through the trees before the duo appeared on stage to start the show with an “Oh Oh!” and the crowd went mad. They played all their magnificent hits including Are You The One ? with the crowd clapping along to its signature clap sequence. As the sun went down, the light show became more intense, heightened by the surrounds. The headliners got the special treatment with the best lighting and the smoke machine on overdrive, completely blocking the stage from view. As the smoke cleared, Julian and Kim would gradually come into view as though they were emerging for the first time. Kim skilfully dodged bottles thrown on stage but didn’t take it out on the rest of the crowd as he stepped from the kit to gear up m up with encouraging arm waves. The set was a good mix of slow ambient sounds and industrial beats to get everyone dancing in that strange coordinated way with hands in the hair and glow sticks lighting up the night. The encore gave Perth one more chance to hustle and in the words of Julian “come home with The Presets”.

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