I’ve never seen Bertie Blackman live before, but I’ve always been a fan. I really liked the acoustic and folk sounds on her debut album Headway, and still listen to her second album, Black: You Kill Me is the best song The Superjesus never wrote, and the combination of fuzzy guitars and that voice just…well, its kills me. Everytime.

And now, on her third album, Bertie Blackman has made the leap to a more electronic sound. Secrets and Lies was produced by Lee Groves (Goldfrapp, Gwen Stefani) and Francois Tetaz (Architecture in Helsinki, Gotye), and it is this new sound that is currently having its debut tour.

Support duties fell to Brisbane band The Cairos, who exist in the same up-tempo rock universe as Children Collide adding, as their FasterLouder profile# proclaims, their own sweeping sound to the angular style that is a dime-a-dozen in today’s indie bands.

Their debut EP, Lost at Sea, and it matches the live show well – tight and terrifically played guitars, with an atmosphere that is exactly of the moment, and yet still distinctive. Really good stuff.

After their set, there was just enough time to have another beer, hit up the half-dozen pinball machines (!) at the back of the room, and have a cigarette in the bizarre room with open panels to the sky, bathed in a soft red light that felt both totally antiseptic and awkwardly intimate.

When Bertie Blackman hits the stage with her three-piece band, and it’s to a really crowded room, with perhaps four or five hundred people jostling for position. And immediately you knew that this set would be a dramatic change from her earlier folk.

The key feature of the live lineup is some excellent effects and loops, which replicate the open, expansive emotion that define the album – something often not managed by other live shows. You get a real sense you are listening to the record, but with the added impact of live guitars, drums, vocals and keys. The band, in short, rocks.

They nail the intricate rhythms, the infectious handclaps and the sheer swampiness of the lead single, Heart, growling through the verses only to explode in cheer at the chorus, all belying the jaded, almost sad lyrics. “I know there’s something sick with what I’ve been sold/I’ve been tricked/I’ve been poisoned in lead/In what I’ve been told.”

They prowl through Black Cats, oozing sexiness. It’s not the raw power of rock; it’s that very distinctive electro feeling of something more sophisticated, more dancefloor than moshpit.

Baby Teeth is almost hip-hop, with a groove that Timbaland might have conjured up. But there’s a very electro build to a peak, followed by a subtle drop that begs for a great remix. (Somebody call MSTRKRFT, see if they’re busy.)

Bertie played solo on Shout Out, perfectly exhibiting the softness of the song. It’s very, very pretty, and for just a moment you hear a glimpse of her first album. Valentine, although not played tonight, is equally good – almost haunting.

But, sadly, the set was not a long one. Certainly it ended before the audience grew tired of it. Welcomed back for an encore with resounding clamour, we were treated to a cover of Phil Collins’ classic, In The Air Tonight. They really rocked it out, but seemed to finish without a drum solo of any kind! Thankfully, Manny Bourakis gave the people what they want, fulfilling a drummer’s moral obligation when performing this song. It was awesome.

This was a very accomplished set from a polished band, who proved they can bring it to Parklife this year, where they will perform alongside titans of electro MSTRKRFT and Erol Alkan. But they’re also touring quite a lot in the next couple of months, and you should catch them if you can.