Electronic music combined with dance theatre does not often enter the realm of mainstream music culture. In my naivety, I never expected an act trying to merge these two very different forms of expression to grace a venue like the Forum, much less play to a full house. Appreciating Fischerspooner more for their music, I had heard tales of their wild stage shows and was a little intrigued.

Casey Spooner and Warren Fischer are more concerned with the idea of art and entertainment than with electronic music, so to be there covering a music gig was, in hindsight, a little pointless. With Warren Fischer, on the decks, shunned to the corner of the stage, the rest of the performance space was dedicated to elaborate costumes, large mirrors and heavily made-up dancers in flesh coloured leotards.

To judge this as a musical performance, however, would be to judge it poorly. The troupe performed a great selection of songs ranging from their new album, Entertainment, including We Are Electric, to Cloud and Kick in the Teeth from their second album Odyssey as well as vintage tracks, Emerge and Never Win.

For all the glitz and showmanship however, Casey Spooner’s voice lacked a tone and pitch that was at points supplemented by a backing track. Maybe it was the bottle of vodka he was guzzling or the jet lag, but I will hazard a guess that Fischerspooner’s sound is completely over produced. Warren Fischer, in his bright yellow wig, (or I hope it was a wig?) delivered a much darker, bass driven sound than I’d anticipated; especially true of their first encore track The Best Revenge, which was less pop and more grot (but the good kind of grot).

I don’t know whether it would be right to call the performance a live set, for there was nothing live bar Casey Spooner’s voice (and the theatrics). In another sense it was more – œlive’ than a DJ-set but not according to the conventional code of practice.

So, let’s look at this performance for what it was – a very big coup for the Melbourne Arts Festival and amazing in its difference. Some of the audience may have gone with completely different expectations of a band that have released singles on the Kitsune label, and albums with Capitol Records and the Ministry of Sound – they were either pleasantly surprised or a little bit repulsed.

As a performance, I cannot deny that it was stimulating. For all the props and bold choreography, the audience was appreciative of the extravagance. Fischerspooner are an example of the variety that exists within the electronic genre and the true potential for artistic endeavor and expression. Where techno or electronica can present itself in a very withdrawn form, devoid of meaning and purely aesthetic, Fishcerspooner’s electroclash performance was a total contradiction.

Indulging in a monologue prior to the encore Casey Spooner explained that Fischerspooner are “about Art versus Entertainment”, where the music, the costumes, the theatre and – œthe Show’ all give meaning to struggle between artistic expression, corporatism and consumption.

And so it was fitting that their only Australian performance was in the Becks’ Rumpus Room – the new name given to the Forum, which had been sponsored to only serve Becks for the duration of the Melbourne Arts Festival. Needless to say Fischerspooner have thought their art through, even if it is a little beyond simple comprehension.