The night began with a powerful blend of 80’s synths and modern electro pop from the catchy unsigned Melbourne trio Bipolar Badwise. This energetic electro outfit delivered a uniquely retro sound with sharp addictive melodies in promising future dance anthem Sacrifice. Following through with an ethereal instrumental Midnight Transit Through Amazonia accompanied by the most enchanting guitar line of the night. Whilst I initially thought James Dear’s lyrics to Entwined were somewhat cliche, I’ve had ‘I’ll be apart of you, If you’ll be a part of me’ stuck in my head all weekend. After Bipolar Badwise left the stage, the night was setup for a high energy retro electro band like Grafton Primary to take the stage.

Before that however clubfeet took us on a more laid back journey and invited us to Count Your Lovers ‘through one to nine’ with a flamenco electronica inspired set, that you could just lose yourself in. DIE Yuppie Scum and Teenage Suicide (Don’t Do It) were filled with more vintage style synths, rich harmonies and seemingly contradicting lyrics. Towards the end of their set the audience began to fill out the room. Young Lovers then took to the stage and induced some more rock centric tones into the crowd. Talking In French brought some much needed distortion guitar to a night full of synths with its ridiculously catchy melody. Towards the end of their set Young Lovers pulled out an INXS cover that had even the most reluctant of patrons moving to the beat.

Grafton Primary opened their set with a long instrumental into the surprisingly Booshesque Records For The Righteous. We all stared transfixed by the crazy stop-motion visuals of records being stacked upon each other, only to be brought back to reality by an insanely full and powerful bass that I have only ever heard at The East. Their wall of sound continued throughout the set, being piecered only by the sharp, punchy synths that first got me hooked on Grafton Primary. The Sydney trio drew on the nights favorite ingredient of 80’s inspired synths to mix up a recipe for the trancey electro styling of I Can Cook, supported by a cooking video circa 1960s.

Thanks to Grafton the small band room of The East was transformed into an intimate, and sometimes crazy, dance floor pulsating to the beats of SOS Hello and The Garden. Aggressive bass and electrifying synths keep the crowd alive during Change a popular favorite from their EP Relativity. The tours namesake All Stars followed with more sweeping synths supported by a solid drum beat, and a much needed break as Grafton Primary left the stage. Before their fingers had even left the keys on their synths cries for an encore engulfed the room.

Naturally they came back, with perhaps their most retro hit yet, Relativity. As crazy as the lyrics ‘We equal MC squared’ are, I couldn’t help but join in the sold out crowd pounding the floor in respect of these new electro gods, who are most certainly better live. Sure their studio albums are destined to become a staple of dance floors around the country, but it pales in comparison to the highly charged energy flowing into their live shows.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE