You’d have to have been living under a rock (or at least have been overseas) for the past few years not to have noticed how meteoric the rise of The Presets has been. From playing to crowds in the tens a few years ago to selling out stadiums and arenas is no small feat. Sydney duo Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes have not only stamped their inimitable mark on the Australian dance scene, they’ve taken their sound around the rest of the world. On Sunday night, at the very end of their successful campaign across the globe, they were sharing the end of their adventure with Brisbane.
Sadly, due to Riverstage time and noise constraints, no gig ever goes for as long as it should, or is as loud as it could be. Despite this, the crowd were treated to more than ample support from Van She and Architecture in Helsinki. It wasn’t until the epic synth fanfare announced the arrival of the main act that almost the whole hill shook with applause and excitement. The welcoming roars from the crowd changed pitch to screams when the fanfare melded into Talk Like That. Kim on the drums really amplified the bass that shook the ground and kicked the set off with an infectious beat to the third single from Apocalypso. Five minutes in and they had everyone hooked, and following up with Yippiyo-Ay kept the crowd moving. Opening their shows with these two tracks has been a tried and tested formula for getting the best out of the crowd early on, and tonight was no different.
The Presets don’t just seem to have the monopoly on the Australian dance scene, they also seem to have some of the most fanatic fans. When seeking a good vantage point it was at times difficult to move without stepping on a pint-sized reveller, their too-tight jeans flailing in excitement at not having school on Monday. They just seemed to keep coming, threading their way through the static fans as they maniacally wheeled their way down to the stage. At particularly acute high points during the set, the front of the stage was nothing but a sea of power-grabbing, pointing, flapping, maddened jazz hands. Obviously seeing some of the crazed looks in fans’ eyes, even Julian had to comment, “don’t get too nuts down the front.”
As for the rest of us, we were too busy enjoying A New Sky to pay much attention to the unnervingly young specimens running around. To give the finale a fuller effect later, the rhythm was taken down a notch or two with earlier release, Girl and the Sea. It would be wise at this point to give special mention to the lighting, as the projections on-screen and otherwise were timed to perfection, no more so than when Kim got on the xylophone for a beautiful rendition of Aeons. The lights coursing through the on-stage rods that were scattered about, burst out with aurora borealis luminescence and added a depth and beauty to the music that would have been lost without such illumination.
If the seething mass of fans at the front didn’t know what to do with themselves during this relatively down tempo interlude of chilled out electronica, they were back on track when If I Know You kicked off. Are You The One kept the energy levels up, especially with the particularly effective climax to the track’s build up knocking the first couple of rows over with its reverb, while Together had even the older fans (us mid to late twentysomethings) towards the back moving and doing some pretty exhausting head bopping. This Boy’s In Love went out to all the fans who’d seen The Presets at Ric’s five years ago (“all twenty of you”), and as the track made the crowd go crazy (all couple of thousand of them), it was interesting to think what it must have sounded like five years ago. The Presets have such a stadium sound that it is almost impossible to imagine what venue, other than a few thousand capacity arena, they would otherwise be comfortable playing to.
This Boy’s In Love is a perfect example of that sound, with a leading piano, some epic synths and the soaring vocals easily taking in a crowd of thousands and keeping them dancing. The track has now become a finale trio that has been tried and tested at Presets gigs, and so the boys finished with _Kicking and Screaming_ and the ridiculously good My People. The latter is arguably the best track on their acclaimed album Apocalypso; it fits its anthem status very well, as the bass throbs, the industrial electronica pummels the eardrums, and the forthright lyrics carry everyone along on a track that just gets better the bigger the venue.
Then, it was time at the hideously overpriced drinks tent, and the boys were backstage for their obligatory pre-encore disappearance. When they came back out, a nice double header of Anywhere and I Go Hard, I Go Home rounded off the short but very sweet set. This was a well rehearsed set, and one mirrored throughout the land, but it shows that the system works as the crowds had been treated to a typically brilliant Presets show.
It is true they have been relying on a tried and true setlist, and using very much the same set throughout most of their Australian tour could have fatigued some of the die hards going to multiple shows. However two things have to be taken into account, firstly that this was the last night of what has been a very long and undoubtedly exhausting tour, and secondly, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
The Presets obviously have a bright future ahead of them, so it was nice to have had a tour the length and breadth of Australia before they move on to bigger and better things. Now that the tour is wrapped up, the Sydney duo are squirreling themselves away to work on their third studio release, but they deserve a break before they achieve well earned world domination.
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