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Synths, psychedelia and galactic lyrical imagery combined on a wild and windy Friday night at Adelaide’s rustic Governor Hindmarsh for the aural equivalent of a trip to Area 51. The Midnight Juggernauts used their latest visitation to the city of churches to cap off their national headline tour and launch new single This New Technology. The result was an enthusiastic response from the all-ages crowd, a compelling endorsement of the Melbourne trio’s science fiction disco rock.

As the umbrellas in the beer garden battled the nasty breeze outside, local lads Lady Strangelove mounted the stage to unveil an impressive dose of lively psychedelia. With enough gadgets and gizmos to keep Brian Eno amused for a good couple of hours, the guys drifted from moments of aural Zen to all out balls out rock and back again. Singer Brendan’s spectacular set of pipes have an air-raid potency similar to that of Robert Harvey from The Music, while drummer Damo’s thrashing of the skins gives the band’s long woozy psychedelic grooves a potent propulsive punch.

Cut Off Your Hands then exploded across the stage, drawing the audience like moths to a rowdy and somewhat frantic flame. These guys seem to get slicker with every performance, the polish pushing their garage-tinged punk in a more commercial-radio-friendly surf rock direction. With plenty of ‘ooh-ah-oohs’, jangley guitars and propulsive Wipeout-style tub thumping, the lads had a decent chunk of the crowd up front and dancing.

The headline set from the Juggernauts plotted an interesting and calculated arc. The bristling enthusiasm of the audience was initially reined in with an intense and moody slow burning opener. Familiar tracks like Shadows were carefully deployed to gradually release the tension, feeding on the crowd’s enthusiasm and expectation. Halfway through, things appeared to have been drummed into a moody and sullen standstill. Then the dam suddenly burst with a precision performance of obvious crowd pleaser Tombstone. Having released the genie from the bottle the lads powered through to an intense knee-trembling climax before briefly vacating the stage to let everyone catch their breath.

The encore was a repeat of the formula in miniature. Road To Recovery was reworked into a long, slow and moody build up to the completely expected final salvo of 45 & Rising. As the effects of the synth-rock symphony subsided, the audience lingered like a slightly delirious group of alien abductees, a more than positive endorsement for a possible 2010 sophomore release. However, before that the guys will be working their way through a vigorous summer festival schedule that includes Homebake, Falls and the Big Day Out. Catch ‘em if you can.

CHECK OUT ALL THE PHOTOS HERE.