The venue was not at full capacity at 9.15 pm when the Sydney band Tom Ugly took the stage but there was at least one dedicated Datarock fan with his wife dressed in full official tracksuit out front eagerly waiting for the men in red.

Tom Ugly were the winners of the first Unearthed High competition and their lead singer did well to be doing lead vocals and filing in on drums, turning out to be an Aussie Phil Collins with his quirky Placebo edge vocals. The sound balance was a bit off and very loud; at the start of each song you could barely understand what the song name was and even the lead Tom Ugly guy was playing with his ears.

The crowd on the dance floor was sparse at the start and had the supports trying to warm it up unsuccessfully with luke-warm indie inspired tunes until halfway through the set they cranked it up a notch and two girls popped the dance floor cherry. At this step the lead singer in-between songs bluntly said, – œSo we’re all looking forward to Datarock. We need more people on the dance floor people. Please don’t make me beg.’ It must be hard for an up-and-coming band from Sydney to play support but at least they have one recognizable single on Triple J. Their highlight song, All I Wana Know had the catchy hooks and they finished with Cult Romance.

Opening with songs from their current album Red, the four men of Datarock amped up the rock singles, The Pretender and True Stories in their uniform of red tracksuits and sunglasses. Their show was complete with a kitsch multimedia screen displaying in-synch lyrics and their music videos and it was the best use of the Hi Fi back wall I’ve seen in a long time. Give It Up, the current pop sing-a-long was played with such strong energy you could not help but dance.

Datarock have the catchy comic pop energy to motivate their fans and convert new listeners. Their performance is all about having fun. Fredrick and the guys in red all interact and make the punters apart of the show with token crowd interaction tactics; hand clapping, witty banter in a foreign accent, random DYI dance moves, jumping into the crowd and pulling two random ladies on stage for a running man dance.

Mid-show it was a risky move when the sweaty topless saxophonist trusted the front row punters and then they propped him up for a bit of crowd surfing; this interaction on the crowded dance floor proved too much for some and I steered clear to avoid getting smacked down by a sweaty limb. The happy vibe was akin to a Wiggles concert for adults; fans were dressed in red Datarock tracksuits and following the lead with enthusiastic aerobic DYI dance moves while drinking. Songs from their first album proved to be crowd pleasers: _I Used To Dance With My Daddy, Fa-Fa-Fa, Computer Camp Love.

The Datarock drummer hobbled on stage in crutches and half way through the show Fredrick announced, “This guy broke his f**king leg on tour…but he still came to OZ…playing our forth show at the Hi Fi is like coming home”. So for the love of the Aussie fans the show must go on.

After a whole hour of dancing in tracksuits under hot lights the band had one quick breather only to return for a carefully planned encore leading the punters in an aerobics oz style dance session. In the end it was worth it coming out on a Tuesday night. So who cares if the sound was a little loud and my ears were still ringing as I departed for bedtime dreaming of dressing in my own red tracksuit, finding my own Computer Camp Love and dancing to the sounds of Norway’s electro pop evolution lead by Fredrick and Ket-Ill. The boys can Sex Me Up the next time they get to OZ.