Twas a chilly Adelaide evening when I ventured out of the warm and into the near Antarctic conditions to get my first taste of live drum and bass at HQ. Heading in reasonably early to catch local supports The Levitators, I was a little surprised to find how few people were inside. Thinking the place would probably fill out a little closer to the main event, I turned out to be wrong. No matter: it was all the more dance space for moi.

Taking to the stage in all their Kiwi glory, the guys from Shapeshifter kicked off the show with a tune off their new album The System is a Vampire: Dutchies. Bringing a heck of a lot enthusiasm and energy to the stage, it was the perfect way to start the show. Showing off their unique mishmash of DnB, soul, jazz and reggae, the guys treated the crowd to a mix of classic tracks from their Soulstice album, including New Day Come and Bring Change, and had the crowd going nuts to favourites like Electric Dream. The set was nicely contrasted with some darker tracks off the new album like Fire and the title track System, a less than complimentary statement about the music industry.

Some slower, soulful tracks like Lifetime and the beautiful Twin Galaxies really highlighted the walking juxtaposition that is vocalist PDiggsss. That juxtaposition being between what he looks like (that is, a little bit scary) and what he sounds like (dare I say… angel?). Wow. What a voice! You could have forgiven the boys for being a little lackluster in their performance due to the teeny tiny crowd. But they rocked it like they were playing to a packed out venue. The highlight of my night was the encore, with the guys finishing on their gorgeous track One, busting out the saxophone for a solo and the most perfect combination of styles. It was heaven.

Having liked Shapeshifter for a few years but only seeing them live for the first time in 2010, this performance really cemented them on my long term favourites list. Big ups, guys. Come back soon.