Friendly Fires and Tornado Wallace are perhaps not the best names to tour a country recently ravaged by natural disasters. Thankfully they brought mainly positives with them when they visited Adelaide at The Gov last Thursday.

The night kicked off in unspectacular fashion with Melbourne DJ and producer Tornado Wallace gracing the stage and spinning what I guess you’d call house and disco tracks. I say unspectacular not because the music was bad, but simply because when he started there was nary a soul in sight. The stage started to fill towards the end of his set as the arrival of Friendly Fires grew closer but it seemed for many, the DJ’s tracks were mere background music for the crowd’s mid-week catch up chatter. I didn’t mind a few of the songs but I think a live band, perhaps a local outfit, supporting would’ve been more apt and got more people involved.

When the British Mercury Prize-shortlisted band took to the stage the place looked a lot fuller but certainly not sold-out full to my untrained eye. No mind, as opening track Lovesick kicked things off very nicely. I’ve always been a sucker for horns, so when the two dudes next to the drummer pulled out their sax and trumpet I was frothing. They played on about half the songs.

The other thing to note from the first track, other than the fact horns are rad, was that singer Ed MacFarlane’s voice is a lot more impressive in real life. That guy can hit notes. He also had some hectic dance moves going on and this brash, confident demeanour but not in a “you’re a dick” kind of way. Let’s face it; I’d be pretty confident too if I could sing like that. You could tell he was pulling out all the stops by the perspiration factor – he was drenched in sweat by the third or fourth song.

White Diamonds was another highlight, its heavy guitar riff making sure some serious shapes were thrown on the dancefloor, while Jump in the Pool and Paris garnered predictably huge responses. The singer’s attack on what I think was a cowbell during Jump in the Pool was a sight to see and was reminiscent of Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken’s famous Saturday Night Live sketch. Microphone issues hampered the start of Paris and meant we heard barely any vocals for the first 10 seconds but other than that it was a treat.

When Friendly Fires left the stage the applause dissipated pretty quickly and it kind of reflected the crowd’s response throughout the night. For a second there I didn’t think the band would come back out, but they did, whipping out a track with another double drumming part and a scat breakdown by the singer.

My gripes? Firstly, no In the Hospital, my favourite track of theirs. Secondly, there was a sameness to a lot of their tracks. But what do you expect when they’ve only put out one album?

Overall, their first visit to Adelaide was a successful one, and if their soon-to-be-released follow up album Pala can top their first offering, their second visit will be even more successful. And with a bigger crowd.