Ratatat, Horse Macgyver, Alps@ The Hi Fi, Melbourne(31/01/2011)

Sun 6th Feb, 2011 in Gig Reviews

I don’t know what it is about Ratatat and Monday nights in Melbourne. It could be they don’t suffer Mondayitis like the rest of us, or that their weekend just never ends. Whatever it is, fans at the Hi-fi are thankful for it.

Fresh from a set at the Melbourne Big Day Out and at the beginning of a world tour, Ratatat delivered an electronica spectacular; their individual sound accompanied by unique and sometimes odd visuals.

The night was opened by * Alps,* a one-man band from New South Wales. Standing in front of a box of synths and drum machines and armed with an electric guitar, Alps knocked out his own brand of electro pop. It may have been that his drifting vocals weren’t upbeat enough for the Ratatatcrowd though, as he couldn’t manage to get the early and largely seated audience on their feet.

After another trip to the bar for most of the crowd, the second one-man show was up in the form of Canberra artist Horse Macgyver. His act was what can best be described as a street performer on acid. Kneeling on the ground for the majority of his set, he switched between synths and effects, drum machines and outright manipulation of sounds combined with the occasional saxophone and mind bending vocal. The crowd, intrigued and not wanting to miss whatever it was he was going to do, next rushed to the front and stayed there.

Fans forcing their way further to the front of the stage waited and waited in anticipation for the headline act. The tension building and building and boiling over in a minor girl-on-girl fight to the left of stage. Then Ratatat appeared in lights and all was forgotten. They got straight into it, setting one of their synthesized bass heavy beats before ripping into their assaulting guitar and filling the stage and audience with a burst of smoke. Hundreds of white birds were soon nodding to the beat of Neckbrace across three screens and the bandroom erupted in a frenzy of its own head-banging euphoria. The visuals continued to fill the stage with crowd favourites _ Mirando,_ Wildcat and Shempi offering some Arnold Schwarzenegger, explosions, gunfire, big cats and seemingly satanic ABBA clips.

On stage the two members are polar opposites. Evan Mast is the unassuming bass player who hovers between instruments. The hip-hop lover of the two, it’s easy to see him quietly setting the beat. Mike Stroud resembles a 70s rock idol, long-haired and demanding control of the stage his silhouette thrown against the wall while he bends and contorts his body as if being forced to ground by his guitar.

It’s normal for a live act to sometimes lose momentum at some point. But Ratatat combined their amazing visuals, in-your-face light show and energetic stage presence to keep the energy up throughout the entire show. By the end of the set, fans were sweaty and exhausted. It didn’t seem to matter that their instrumental sound didn’t lend to the sing-a-long, the flawless blend of hip hop beats, elaborate electro pop and 80s inspired rock riffs had fans clapping in unison and losing themselves in the beat.

The high energy set came to an end in a similar display of pageantry to how it started. The stage filled completely with smoke while Mast and Stroud snuck off stage. Realising it was all over, the crowd quickly demanded an encore. They took to the stage again, uttering a quiet “thank you” (two of the few words said all night) and got straight into debut single Seventeen Years. The encore started strong, but couldn’t match the energy of the main set. The lights came on and despite begging for more, we knew we weren’t going to get another helping. The band room slowly emptied, the excitement spreading to the street where the crowd refused to disperse.

A Ratatat live show is something you need to see to believe. They are an inimitable act highly recommended by Daft Punk (that says it all), who even days later are impossible to get out of your head.