CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW ON ITM.

Festival Hall came to life as crowds of fans rolled in to see La Roux return for the ‘Gold’ tour, their second time playing in Australia since the hugely successful tour in October 2009.

Local newcomers Tim and Jean kicked off the show as the first supporting act and certainly left a lasting impression. Hailing from Perth, this indie duo is definitely a band to watch. Currently being featured on Triple J’s Unearthed site with their lead single Come Around, they combine an indie-pop sound with catchy lyrics and electro synths. They got the crowd dancing along to their energetic, upbeat performance, playing tracks from their upcoming EP.

Second support act, singer/songwriter Bertie Blackman, made a striking opening onstage as she strummed along with an electric guitar, intending to mess the crowd up for a while. Bertie gave a strong performance with hauntingly beautiful vocals as she slowly warmed up the crowd for La Roux. She performed the opening track on her latest LP Secrets and Lies titled Sky Is Falling, which was mesmerising and “a bit dreamy”, as Bertie explained. The strings and keyboards built the song intensely and emotionally.

She gave her fans a real treat, performing a new song Peek-a-boo for the very first time on stage, adding a unique touch as she tapped along on a drum and sung the chorus through a megaphone – which she said was “a vessel to send messages from aliens in outer space.”

After hours of anticipation, La Roux and her band finally took to the stage just before 10pm, opening with the track Tigerlily. The stage lit up with a spectacular light show while the band made their entrance. The stage was lined with a backdrop of lighting panels, which displayed an extravagant array of coloured lights and animation throughout the set. The band had a black and white theme onstage, from their clothing to the stage artwork. Lead singer Elly Jackson looked very sharp, wearing a black blazer with white lapels and sporting her signature spiked sky-high fringe.

Fans would have noticed that Elly wasn’t dancing as much as she normally would during a performance, which she soon explained was due to having to wear a strap on her back after an injury she had acquired on the flight to Melbourne. Nevertheless she still soldiered on and gave an energetic performance, repeating the same steps gliding across the stage with her ‘La Roux walk’. The band’s drummer Liam also provided entertainment stage left, as he was drumming along with some ultra quirky moves as he bopped his knees and body to the beat.

La Roux played almost every song from their debut album, including hits Quicksand, In For The Kill and current single I’m Not Your Toy, which exude influences from the ‘70s and ‘80s, mixed with steel drums, synthesisers and Jackson’s falsetto.

For fans who had attended La Roux’s previous Australian tour, there were barely any changes to the show. However the band did play a cover of the Rolling Stones song Under My Thumb, which they had completely re-worked to their style. The standout track of the evening was Colourless Colour, a mid-tempo track carried by electro synths and hard-hitting beats.

After the band played Fascination and left the stage, the crowd’s cheers for more echoed throughout the hall, in anticipation of an encore. Elly and her band quickly returned sporting a few costume changes to deliver the infectious single Bulletproof, which had everyone out of their seats and dancing one last time.