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If you’ve been in tune with Modular’s latest exports in the past 12 months, if you’re familiar with the dance anthem My People, hell, if you’ve got a pair of ears, you’ve heard of The Presets.

Still brushing the storming success of 2008’s sophomore LP Apocalypso off their shoulders, duo Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes have no plans to stop there. With an ARIA and a J Award both for Best Album of the Year under their belts, the Presets have proved to be a beam of light it what has otherwise been a music industry dip. The K-Rudd stimulus package of music.

Kicking off their 2009 tour with Adelaide darlings Wolf and Cub, their first show was to take place on Friday night rather than Saturday, with an extra show thrown in due to high demand.

As the only support band for the night, opening up the gig we had Wolf and Cub. As one of Adelaide’s greatest musical exports, this is a band who never fails to emulate raw garage rock on a big stage. Playing greatest hits from album Vessels and the recently released techno-fringed Science and Sorcery, I found them to be an excellent starter. JJJ hit track Seven Sevens and Vessels were highlights.

With an hour’s interchange, next up were Presets, who heralded their entry to the stage with smoke machines and a backdrop of big, rectangular neon lights. – œTis dance music after all!

Opening with the sporadic intro beats of Talk Like That, the crowd were a little slow to get started. It was only when the duo pumped the choruses and turned up the bass knobs that they started to jump.

Unfortunately, this was the most action Julian and Kim would see from an otherwise lifeless crowd for the remainder of the night. Now although a craftsman should never blame his tools, it must be said the rowd was awful. Granted, the Friday show was a sponteanous addition due to Saturday night’s ticket allocation exhaustion, but really – with a dishonourable nod to Live at the Zoo crowds included this was terrible. I can only assume their doting fans were saving themselves for the next night.

After manoeuvring my way through the mosh to varying locations – the front of the stage, the sides and the back – I found little difference no matter where I stood. The situation was as such: you stood still like the rest of the lemmings and had a shit time. Or you danced. I chose the latter, and was soon met with a hearty shove in the back by a guy trying to protect his girlfriend from my – œviolent’, apparently, dancing. I’ve been in heavy metal moshpits where punters were friendlier.

As they worked their way through hit singles from_Apocalypso_ the tense conditions improved, with tracks like Are You The One? and new single release If I Know You receiving great crowd response. Not to mention the sound was superb, perhaps thanks to the Preset’s own tecchies stationed just right of the stage.

Yet as the gig progressed, the look of disappointment on Preset’s faces was deplorable. And I can’t say that I blame them. Even a brilliant finale of_My People_ with some surreal purple lighting did little but make a handful of people quiver during the chorus. At least the band themselves were having fun, with Julian busting out a few robot-esque dance moves behind his synths. Scroll to the 1:40 mark, and note the audience not moving at all :

(Click HERE if you can’t see the video window).

As things wrapped up the duo were modest, thanking the audience and Wolf and Cub for their support. “Guys, the first time we played here it was to about 20 people at Jive, so this is awesome,” Julian mused, before launching into their encore.

Yet for one of the biggest bands in Australia right now, it was nothing short of embarrassing that Adelaide once again stayed true to its “city of folded arms” reputation.

Bad form, Adelaide. We can do better than this.

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