Midnight Juggernauts @ TheMetro Theatre, Sydney(06/11/09)

Thu 12th Nov, 2009 in Gig Reviews

Midnight Juggernauts are one of those bands that you’ve probably seen live so many times over the past few years, you could put together your own timeline of their career in the public sphere using just your cache of memories.

When their Secrets of the Universe EP was released in 2006 and everyone started to take notice of the haunting trio with a penchant for cosmically-charged synths, they would play intimate shows at the Annandale and share the stage with other emerging acts at relatively modest events like Sydney Uni’s Beach Ball.

Then in August 2007 with the release of their debut full-length, Dystopia, local interest in them grew ten-fold, and the likes of MTV UK/Europe and the BBC were tipping them as one of 2007’s biggest indie acts. They swept Australian audiences off their feet with their huge national album tour before suddenly disappearing overseas to support Parisian dance phenomenon Justice in their tour through the UK.

Their return in late 2008 is where things got interesting as they returned to Manning Bar to play in a room so packed with sweaty fans even the most gig-hardened of us found it distressingly hard to breathe. And then by the end of it all we were left sweaty, breathless, and more than a little perplexed. Abandoning their commitment to the more danceable aspects of their material, the Juggernauts opted instead for overlong psychedelic riffs and sound tangents. It was by no means bad, but it left most of us wishing they’d played at least one song in a form recognisable enough for us to dance to.

The band disappeared again for the better part of 2009 to write their yet-to-be-titled sophomore album, before embarking on their current national tour to celebrate the release of lead single, This New Technology. With New Zealand’s Cut Off Your Hands in support, it promised to be a phenomenal show, so long as the crowd didn’t get lost in a heady wave of unfamiliar instrumentals.

The Metro was predictably full to the brim, and the crowd lapped up Cut Off Your Hands’ punkish exuberance. This quartet never cease to deliver the unbridled, messy fun of those garage punk gigs held in community halls you used to go to when you were sixteen, but still retain the sweetness of their pop-friendly melodies.

By the time the headliners were due to take the stage, the crowd was nicely wound-up, and the Juggernauts opened with Shadows to a rapturous response. The stage was adorned with giant globes hanging from ceiling like some kind of shrunken glow-in-the-dark solar system, while eerie green lasers coursed from the back to the stage right through the crowd.

Subtly playing with the tempo and the guitar arrangements, they powered through the darkly seductive So Many Frequencies and Ending of an Era, the band obviously well over the urge to impress with overblown instrumental tangents. Serving up their new material, including TNT, they offered hints of what to expect from their upcoming album. Like a desert cardinal wafting through the night sky while high on peyote, it promises to be equal parts melodic and psychedelic, with a touch of country swagger and a wash of cosmic synths.

The band barely said a word to the crowd, preferring to punctuate songs with brief moments of Phil Collins-esque drum solos. There was no pretense when it came to the – œencore’ part of the show. The boys were clearly not interested in making a production out of it, returning to the stage to play song of the night, Tombstone, followed by Dystopia and Road to Recovery, the latter curiously taken up a key.

Closing the set with 45 & Rising, the Juggernauts left very little wanting, obviously happy to be back on the live circuit after spending months cooped up in the studio. Oh, but one day I wish they’d figure out a way to fit Nine Lives into their show.