A last minute rush job of an assignment, sees this reviewer a tad late getting to the Tivoli on Wednesday night. Being accustomed to the usual long lines at the door, I thought I’d be safe. As Murphy’s Law would have it, tonight’s procession inside is the most efficient ever and at just past 7pm, the Aussie support act, Amy Meredith were already into their last couple of songs.

The five piece from Sydney had most of the crowd singing along to an eerily perfect cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want to Have Fun before launching into their final song Black Eyes, which showed the boys off to their full pop/indie/alt/rock goodness. Whatever genre it is they fall into, Amy Meredith put on a catchy, entertaining and fun packed show, which left me wishing I’d arrived on time.

After a bunch of 80’s hits to entertain the crowd during the break, a noticeably drunk Adam Young stumbled on stage to kick off Owl City ‘s set. With a full back up band, even comprising of a string section, the set started off to Young’s less than in tune vocals and intriguing dance moves. Thankfully, the band soon hit their stride and had the crowd screaming along with all of their songs, quite a feat from a relatively (forgive the pun) young artist. The stand out track was of course Fireflies, however, other songs from 2009’s Ocean Eyes such as Hello Seattle, Hot Air Balloon, Dental Care and Vanilla Twilight were also well received.

By the end of the set, one could almost convince themselves that Young’s dancing and slurring was not influenced by alcohol, but maybe just nerves perhaps? Owl City is definitely not a band from those who like their music ground breaking and deep, but for a synthpop band, recorded in a basement, there is no denying that Owl City is remarkable good at what it aims to do.

Sadly, the night took a steep dive into hell for the following half hour with a mix of Kesha and that song about holiday room service sending the kids into a frenzy of faux pole and stripper dancing and high pitched squealing. I feel bad for judging so harshly but really, who screams louder for a song that comes on over the loudspeaker than the actual band you paid money to see?

Skip ahead a few sprained ankles and a girl locking herself in the toilets and New Jersey’s finest, Gabe Saporta with band Cobra Starship hit the stage in a flurry of lights. There are really so few bands, having reached Cobra Starship’s level of success that have retained such charisma and likeability.

Playing a range of tracks off 2006’s While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, 2007’s Viva la Cobra and 2009’s Hot Mess including The Church of Hot Addiction, Kiss My Sass, Smile for the Paparazzi, Hot Mess and The Scene is Dead; Long Live the Scene, Cobra Starship kept up their energetic set including witty and sharp tongued banter with the audience. Bassist Alex Suarez and guitarist Ryland Blackington took various propositions from the crowd in their stride with keytarist Victoria Asher looking impossibly cool as always.

Highlights of the night included Snakes On A Plane which saw one fan invited up on stage to sing Travis McCoy ’s part, which proved to be highly entertaining and perhaps a hint of a future of a rap career for the pint sized fan.

Finishing off the encore with Good Girls Go Bad surprised no one but was well received and have even more members of the audience falling in love with the band’s easy banter. The compliments that came thick and fast from Saporta, such as Aussies “getting their humour” and being ridiculously good looking.

Criticise synthpop all you want, but as Cobra Starship’s Guilty Pleasure so aptly puts it, they’re just there to make you dance, and that is something that they manage to do perfectly. With catchy riffs, tongue in cheek and sarcastic lyrics, Cobra Starship proved that sometimes there really is nothing better than a bit of pop music.