What is it called when you want to mosh on the dance floor? When the music is so distorted and glitchy it makes The Metro feel like a warehouse party? It’s Justice, baby. Justice.

As those who had not been quick enough to snap up Big Day Out tickets (or alternatively had just decided the lineup wasn’t up to par) were already well warmed up by the time we arrived, they weren’t upset to hear EdBanger Records head honcho Busy P dropping mainstream favorites like Justin Timberlake’s Sexy Back (yes, the original!) and occasionally grabbing the mic in between songs to ask whether we were ready? F**k yes, we certainly were.

Strewn around the dark Metro were the Justice styrofoam crosses that dominated the stage setup, serving as a constant reminder of why we were here. As Busy P was pulling his set to a close, the big screen backdrop of confusing text faded to black and the Justice logo appeared, along with the now well-known cross. The main room of The Metro then faded to black and Justice themselves appeared: bearded and relaxed, they were ready. And so were we.

Without even a thought for false showmanship, the duo mixed out of Busy P’s last track into a twisted little number and although they seemed a little cautious to be playing in Australia for the first time, they had no hesitation in throwing down their four-bar double-speed disco loop, slowing it right down to the desired tempo without any hesitation. At which point they dropped the bomb.

Not unlike the real thing itself, chaos ensued when the Waters of Nazareth was dropped and Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge seemed happy to play the Erol Alkan edit, moving quickly into some of their most popular remixes. Playing most if not all of their famous works, such as the recent Franz Ferdinand, the glitchy Daft Punk, the odd Soulwax ditty and the relatively unknown Britney Spears (did you know it’s featured on one of her Best of compilations?), and of course the obvious We Are Your Friends, they steered clear of playing songs to their entirety and preferred to leave the crowd with hooky licks and drabs, relying more on unknown (to some) French favorites from SebastiAn, Kavinsky, Feadz and the drool-inducing Mr. Oizo’s latest offerings, all the while with Busy P bouncing around the stage like a maniac. Oh, did I mention they played their new track, Phantoms? They did. Did I mention I bounced around like a maniac? I did.

That’s not to say the boys were pretentiously sticking within the boundaries of the genre they are currently defining. As the two were hunched over their humble dual CDJ and ‘ooh la la’ Pioneer mixer setup, they snuck looped snippets of (unremixed) Fatboy Slim, Missy Elliot, the guitar stylings of Soulwax and The Knack’s My Sharona in with one of the only tracks played to it’s entirety in the set, in being The Presets Who Made Who. It was clear they had the intention of playing records in the same manner that they remixed (ie. f**king shit up).

Whilst the music connoisseur would stand behind the sound desk for the best sonic experience, the sweaty punters won over this time as the dance floor was the best place to be for the disturbingly spiral-like basslines being mixed by the two. Their concentration was utterly focused and it showed, for the experience was indescribably haunting. Occasionally taking a break for a smoke, they never left their post and whilst I was screaming for more, others around were screaming for less as it seems the French can party harder and longer than Sydney can.

With the concert drawing to a close (purely because of the Metro’s 3am ‘all must halt’ policy) and Busy P frantically handing out copies of the boys Sophomoric release along with his label’s latest, Uffie’s Hot Chick, the boys then moved onto the encore. They dropped the generic favorite closing song of an international act while in Sydney – Rage Against The Machine’s Killing in the Name Of. Now while Sharam Jay might slow down his current song to mix in the downtempo opening licks, and Adam Freeland would just plain drop it in, Justice juggled eight and sixteen bar loops over both CDJs and unleashed a self-made live medley of the appropriately sampled first lines of the second verse (“those who died are justified”) and the popular sing-along chorus (“F—k you, won’t do what you tell me!”). That s**t was f**cked up!

Apart from the punters who weren’t wasting their time shouting ‘one more’ in vain, the rest of us were left with their final medley (or mash up) of the Cardigan’s Loveful, Tone Loc’s Wild Thing and the bass-heavy Buy Now For Sale – the three elements summing up the entire musical concept for which Justice stands for.

‘Love me, love me, say that you love me’ – I do Justice, I do!