Two choices in Perth to see Endorphin. Neither a regular venue for dance music, one with a generally poor reputation. The Rosemount Hotel provided an adequate venue; it’s not great, it’s not abysmal, and I won’t enter into discussion on it here, other than to say some people do not go to events there simply because it is the Rosemount. You can make your own mind up, but it’s worth considering for all involved.

Lo-Key Fu, bedecked in roadworker’s orange vest, matching hat and maniacal grin, threw down 40 minutes of acid-infused electrochemical beats, twiddling knobs madly, whilst a crowd that was more outside than inside either ignored him altogether or stood on their back feet unsure of what to make of it. It was already evident that this was a very mixed crowd – some stroked chins knowingly at Fu’s music creation, most exchanged questioning sideways glances or unilateral eyebrow raises. It was a decent enough set, but not one of extraordinary variety. One thing lacking was volume, something that persisted all night. Hopefully it introduced some to new ways of delivering live music.

A significant change and a swelling crowd greeted Moriarty, Perth’s rising electronic band. A vocalist, a bass player, a saxophonist and the beatmeister. The singer was sensational, with a great dynamic range and energy, proving to be an excellent tonic for the hitherto slumbering crowd.

Behind her tones were several disappointing aspects to their performance. Just because you have a bass guitar supporting the bottom end sound does not mean you can get away with tinny beats. The mix throughout the venue was suboptimal – both the overall sound plus the fact that the sax was barely discernible through the treacle-like bass. Not really excusable with your own soundman. As a unit, Moriarty overcame these shortcomings and punched out a gutsy, energising set of songs which proved to be a good lead-up act to Endorphin, but for….

Twenty minutes of shite, unmixed hard house. Why? Is that Endorphin’s idea on ramping up the crowd? The venue’s? Whose? From experience I can say that nights of electronic music work much, much better when there is no gap between acts – there is nothing wrong with putting on a quality DJ between each live act or decreasing the gap between live acts: one does not detract from the other if they’re all quality. On the contrary, it maintains the punters’ focus and enthusiasm, rather than letting it peak and trough.

Endorphin on stage, way up high in front of the projection screen, head bobbing madly from the word go, the front area crammed with eager faces and… something of a Sunday afternoon tune to begin with. Not the best start, but he quickly made amends, upping the intensity with Sex and Violence, then some beat-heavy tracks, a mix of old and new. It was very well received, and each track was followed by the familiar French-accented “thank you”.

A “brand new” track with a few extra female dancers pulled from the crowd went down well – a dark, driving, syncopated rhythm with swirling overlaid sounds was a great variation that was almost too good: some of the four/four tracks were exposed as being rather flat in comparison. That said, if they were shorter and mixed with some of the more highly varied tracks they would hold up more strongly. As well, there is so much more variety on his albums that some may have felt they were not being offered the full range of his production prowess. Producer’s choice, that one.

As has been his way over the last few years, he got a bit political on us for his closing track, Dare: an oversized, incessantly-smiling John Howard cut-out face, accompanied by Dubya put on a fantastic visual show that complemented the music superbly. It was certainly an end on a high.

Earlier, the initial visuals were reasonable, although the performances by the two dancers were unconvincing. Good thing then, that they saved their best till last, with a gradual improvement throughout and some truly stunning outfits – some early misgivings by the crowd gave way to enthusiastic welcomings of each new act by the duo.

You can argue about how much the visuals and the dancers contribute to the music – the novelty factor and the distraction – but in the end it’s subjective: it’s part of the overall performance. The same goes for the gaps between tracks – a break in the continuum or a chance to reflect on each tune as a whole, with its own visual and aural components? When you’re considering someone as experienced as Endorphin you have to figure he’s worked out how he wants things to work; what and how he wants people to hear; what he wants you to see. It all challenges both the standard clubbing experience and the standard live band experience – that can only be a good thing.