It was an electro infused rock fiasco at the Australian National University on Saturday night as Midnight Juggernauts packed out the refectory for one night only. There were high expectations for the trio from Melbourne who didn’t let the Canberra crowd down, showing why they’re debut album, Dystopia, has been winning the love of both dance devotees and rock enthusiasts around the country.
Canberra raised and Melbourne residents, Young and Restless, opened to what fast became an enormous home crowd of clubbers. Their indie sound was well received, making a nice start for the escalation of rock to dance music through the night.
Damn Arms followed; a prog-punk-synthesized live show whose main goal on the stage was to get the crowd pumped and legs warmed up. In one song they seem to be able to incorporate punk with breaks and electro infusing each sound nicely, as in their popular tune Home Wrecker; which had the crowd not knowing whether to start head banging or bang ganging. Either way their sound is interesting and makes you move. And anyone that can play a rhythm instrument and sing at the same time has my major appreciation!
After such talented support acts the crowd was well on its way to a good time. Midnight Juggernauts went one step further, taking the crowd to the level of wild times.
Everyone’s undivided attention was gained by the opening synth sounds, taking us first on the Road to Recovery. If you listen closely, there are about 99 layers of different sounds (maybe a slight exaggeration) all mixing into a united combination with an infectious beat underneath.
The best simile to describe the sound is it’s like a musical version of a light show – in the words of a festival hippie at 3am “dude, you can totally touch the music!” I was personally so enthralled by all the tweaky little noises coming through the speaker I forgot I was supposed to dance.
The Juggernauts brought a euphoric feeling mixing running bass-lines and crisp drums with electro sounds for Shadows and took us to the stars with Into the Galaxy.
Looking around at the wild timers in the audience I was amused to see the only person doing the rock n roll shoulder ride was a man – on a man’s shoulders. Otherwise the enormous crowd was surprisingly content from front to back, not too worried about the inevitable tall people in the way (why are they ALWAYS right in front of you?). Everyone seemed to be happy dancing and bopping in whatever small space they had. It must have been the music; a drug in the atmosphere taking everyone to their own personal happy place.
Before the gig I was having trouble imagining how the electro-rock sound would carry across to a live set. It seemed the live sound added some kind of personal touch to such electronic music; it really did sound incredible and highlighted the talent of this Aussie group doing big things.
Midnight Juggernauts can’t be satisfied with or classified into one genre. They had to go and attack the dance and rock communities, showing that music is for everyone no matter what sound excites you. Their music can take you to so many different places; it makes you dance then chills you out, makes you smile with the simple joy of the music then makes you listen for the curious little noises that make the music a real art.
It was a short set but every moment was justified with great music and a brilliant show. Midnight Juggernauts have become an act to look out for, and now we can say they are even better live than from the studio, which we all had certainly hoped but some of us didn’t expect.
