CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

One thing I’ve learnt from attending the rare all-ages gigs that I do these days is that under-18s sure know how to party. And hard. Waiting outside the Metro for Van She’s first – œZe Vemixes’ show, I overhear Kid 1 asking Kid 2 how old he is, with Kid 2 replying, “I’m 14 this year.” So apparently they party hard, and young.

Modular DJ Joel Amos, aka Magic Happens, kicked off the night with his infectious disco-inspired production work. The crowd lapped it up like the vodka and Red Bull they had managed to convince the small number of weak-willed 20-somethings in attendance to buy for them (shhhh…).

Ted & Francis, the new incarnation of Sydney duo Like Whoa! followed – and gosh, they’ve come a long way since their live debut just four months ago. A writhing throng of hyped-up teenagers is perhaps not the ideal audience to showcase their slick dancefloor ballads, but this charismatic pair still managed to captivate those sober enough to appreciate the delicately pretty Erlend and Think About Enough from their recently-released self-titled EP.

Old hands at bringing the dancefloor to its knees, Modular’s newest signees Bag Raiders were exactly what this restless crowd needed to put all those Red Bulls to good use. The Metro is rarely pushing capacity for a support act, but there’s nothing quite like the instantly-recognisable Fun Punch to incite swarms of teenagers to abandon their cigarettes and the bathroom queue. A nice-looking heavily-fringed mess of about 15 told me that if you danced for long enough you’d soon forget that you ever needed to go anyway. I smiled with all the knowing of a seasoned professional.

Chris Stracey and Jack Glass had the room eating out of the palm of their hands soon enough. The build-up of the enchanting Shooting Stars was possibly the single moment of the night when the crowd came together with the kind of solidarity needed to deal with the announcement that the cops had closed the bar early. I silently cursed those weak-willed 20-somethings for not opting to tell their underage counterparts to be patient.

By the time Bag Raiders were wrapping up their set, the room had degenerated into a bizarre quasi-V Fest. Flashes of fluoro-pink, Kanye shades and impossibly-short shorts dashed past as the security collectively give up trying to keep a handful of bikini-clad girlfriends from climbing atop their boyfriends’ obliging shoulders.

I’ve seen Sydney’s Van She play countless times, but never to a crowd who would chant their name a ten whole minutes before they took the stage. Opening with the track they’ve never quite managed to top, the sweetly upbeat Kelly, the band oscillated between material from their debut album V and the recently-released Van She Tech remix album, Ze Vemixes.

Truth be told, frontman Nicky Routledge has a ways to go before his live vocal-work could be considered strong, but that didn’t seem to bother the crowd one bit. His microphone was also set too low, so they could make it halfway through a song before it was even identifiable.

Despite playing some of the strongest tracks from V such as Strangers, So High and Cat and the Eye, their Tech-work easily stole the show. It did little to put to rest those persistent whispers that Van She Tech is actually the stronger brand. Their remix of the Klaxons’ Atlantis to Interzone brought everything to a spectacular head, and for a moment I forgave them for not playing Virgin Suicide. Whatever Van She’s weaknesses when it comes to their live show, one thing is clear from Friday night – their young fan base is stronger than ever.