Frou Frou Foxes were first up, and their sound check was loud enough to peel the paint off the walls of the Zoo. It was a sign of things to come I suppose, and they certainly got everyone’s attention. They appeared to have a fairly strong contingent of friends/fans at the front, and the place had a pretty decent crowd in early.

I’ve gotta say, their start was pretty nervous. For the first two or three tracks I was dreading writing this review because I’d hate to have to give these guys a serve, because I think they’re quite talented, but that was the way it was looking. However around halfway through their set they’d obviously settled the butterflies and started to really hit their straps. They’re quite obviously set in the Test Icicles mould, but they carry it off quite well. It’s music your parents would hate you to be listening to – very loud and very raw. After their initial nerves the Foxes settle in to ripping into their set. They’re ferocious. It’s not seamless and there are a few notes that go astray, but with more gigs of this size they’ll certainly iron out the creases in their set. They’ve got what really matters — you can see they like being onstage and performing seems to sit pretty well with them and all three share the vocals.

The Valentinos began their set with some of their now famous showmanship, with hooded drummer Daniel drumming the rest of the band on stage. They’ve got plenty of swagger, and had the crowd moving right from the outset. They’re a very tight band, with some great riffs and some really danceable tracks. They dropped CCTV and Triple J favourite Man With A Gun very early on in the set, whipping the crowd up. Then, around halfway through the set, just when I was thinking that these guys were really something else, they seemed to hit the pause button. Obviously they wanted to drop some of the tracks from their upcoming EP, but the set seemed to take a left hand turn. Where the start of their set was the dancy pop they’ve made their name with, the last half turned into a strange kind of self-indulgent experiment, which seemed to lose the crowd a touch. Singer Nik started running his mic through a loop pedal on some tracks, which just seemed a little strange and didn’t really sit with the rest of the set. I know they’re fairly heavy on aesthetics, but I think they’d better be careful not to let that creep into their sound too much — don’t change what ain’t broke fellas.

Midnight Juggernauts are the real deal.

What more can you say? These guys have their whole sound totally sorted, and they’re super talented. Kudos to Daniel from the Valentinos, who backs up to drum for the Juggernauts in what was a very hot Zoo. They roll seamlessly through the set, not bothering much with the crowd banter other than to thank everyone for turning out. I hope this brand of electro-rock never dies, they have moments of Cut Copy-esque brilliance and some basslines that would make Daft Punk jealous. Crowd favourites were Devil Within, which probably took honours for biggest sing along, while Shadows towards the end of the set was unbelievable, that funky bassline sent the dancefloor absolutely nuts. Raised by Wolves was another highlight, with the crowd bellowing the falsetto banshee scream back at them.

The Juggernauts have a great vibe on stage, they don’t aim to throw themselves around any more than is natural, they let their music provide the energy, and it works beautifully. The synth sound these guys rock is so lush it sounds five stories high, and by the time they wind up their set there’s a very healthy sense of euphoria settling over the crowd.

As seems to be customary these days the band leaves the stage just long enough for the crowd to begin clapping for an encore, before returning. They finish (appropriately) with 45 & Rising. Stunning. The Juggernauts have an excellent grasp on what a dancefloor needs, as is shown with this finale ‑ a simple, solid drumbeat, a bassline with some funky octaves, good lyrics and some groovy synth. Voila! Dance floor magic. I know musical styles come and go, but it’s hard to see at this point what’s going to unseat the synth from its current vogue in this dance-friendly music world.

The Juggernauts are definitely another Aussie band you’d expect to rock around the world, Cut Copy style. $13.50 is an absolute bargain I wouldn’t expect to be repeated too often.