Fright Night @ The CornerHotel (13/01/2012)

Mon 16th Jan, 2012 in Gig Reviews

What better way to celebrate Friday the 13th than with a Mistletone-curated spooky dance party? ‘Fright Night’ at The Corner Hotel presented an impressive selection of high-energy rhythmic weirdness from the Mistletone Records roster. The bill, featuring up-and-comers and long term staples from around the country, was headed up by John Maus (in the country for Sugar Mountain festival) and Falls Festival stand-outs the Dan Deacon Ensemble.

The night was underway well before sunset, but nevertheless the room filled quickly during the performances of local dance-folk weirdos The Parking Lot Experiments and the first Mistletone act Montero. The spooky dress code may have been largely ignored, but the crowd definitely seemed otherwise ready to participate. The obvious excitement in the room translated into dancing as Jonti took to the stage, showering the crowd with a spacey, psychedelic take on everything from dubstep to 8-bit dance music. The Sydney producer and multi-instrumentalist proved to be quite the performer, ‘rocking through’ a sprained hand to deliver a set far more entertaining than most one-man, loop-friendly performances manage to be. It was a nearly flawless set, marred only by an underwhelming experiment with a ukulele at the conclusion.

Up next, locals Rat Vs Possum delivered their first and last set for 2012. Drummer Andrew Noble stole the spotlight during their highly rhythmic set, locking everything down tightly and clearly driving the songs. Early on in the set, the announcement that it was his last show with the band gave their exuberant show a slightly sombre vibe. Uninhibited though, the band stomped their way through a selection of new and old songs with an infectious energy. When every member of the band picked up a set of drumsticks for the tribal drumming section of old favourite Animals, the entire room was on board. Keep an eye out for their return in 2013.

The venue’s dual stage setup saw John Maus relegated to the smaller side stage. He definitely didn’t look cramped up there however, as there was no sign of any equipment on stage bar his microphone. This setup looked pretty strange, and things only get stranger when the set got started. Maus’s manic live show was truly a sight to behold. He twisted and convulsed his way around the full area of the stage, shouting with varying degrees of comprehensibility over a programmed backing track. It was…polarising. As Dan Deacon would later put it, Maus is, “one of the most sincere musicians out there right now,” and that didn’t seem to be lost on the group of his fans totally losing their shit at the front of the room. However, I think the set may have been wasted on the rest of us.

Still hidden in pre-show darkness, Dan Deacon guided us through some kind of inspirational warm-up yoga ritual involving clenched fists, kneeling and gentle thrusting. The entire crowd participated, grinning at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. As the red curtain finally parted, we got our first look at the man himself as he informed us that it was “time to stand up and begin to dance.” The crowd obliged, and the ensemble gave as good as they got.

It was hard to believe that the group on stage had been performing together for less than 3 weeks. The 5-piece brought Deacon’s busy, schizophrenic compositions to life with apparent ease, with both drummers nailing the complex rhythms and both keyboardists reproducing the weird and wonderful sounds of Deacon’s recorded work flawlessly. Deacon was a sight to behold, bursting with energy as he handled vocal, programming and even lighting duties. His between song banter was as entertaining and ridiculous as the music itself, often morphing into barely comprehensible rants that somehow found their way to a concluding point.

While the sound did climb to painful levels of distortion and volume at times, for the most part the mix was pretty digestible. The set-list drew mainly from Deacon’s albums Bromst and Spiderman Of The Rings, and the ensemble definitely did these songs justice in the live environment. Controlled largely by Dan Deacon, the light show was also a spectacle. Red, blue and green strobe lights were combined to a mind-melting effect, and Trippy Green Skull appropriately featured a neon green pulsating skull, suspended over the crowd on a giant pole.

The crowd participation continued throughout the set, with Deacon co-ordinating a tag-team dance competition at one point, and a group interpretive dance at another. A highlight of the night came during the introduction to Snookered, when the crowd was instructed to gather as tightly as possible under The Corner’s giant disco ball, place our hands on the head of the person in front of us and meditate on our biggest regrets and fears. Then as the song kicked in, the motionless crowd sprang to life, and the room was filled with manic dancing.

All in all, in was one hell of a Friday the 13th celebration. Whether or not Fright Night will grow into an annual event remains to be seen, but we can only hope so.