Franck Rivoire might sound like an unremarkable name, but last Sunday at Melbourne’s Hi Fi Bar he projected the complete opposite image via his mystical stage persona DANGER.

Arriving after the local acts had been and gone, our night was kicked off by the hyper-energetic Nina Las Vegas. She began by paying homage to France’s innumerable electro heavyweights with Justice’s new single Civilisation. While most of her efforts for the remainder of the set went into dancing rather than attending to the decks, the vibe she created was remarkably fun, with catchy electro pop tracks abounding.

Sydney duo Light Year followed soon afterwards, allowing everyone the chance to cool off with a bare, pounding electro house set. The consistent tempo and lack of saturated bass built suspense and allowed excited fans to mingle before the main act.

The atmosphere preceding DANGER’s onstage arrival was predictably electric. At first it appeared as though the entire show was destined to play out like a story. An ambient drone accompanied the opening sequence of projections, which depicted a soon to be jacked up volume dial. After a brief and meandering intro the masked visitor did just that, launching into his remix of Acid Washed and following up with several of his own productions. These would make up the vast majority of his generous eighty minute set.

At just 27 years of age, Rivoire is loved by fans as much for his penchant for graphic design and 80’s video game culture as his music. Both these passions feed and inspire his idiosyncratic live productions and have earnt him a following which has now outgrown its former cult status. Sadly for us, the intrigue he garners from these elements was largely absent from his live performance. The cryptic track names, ethereal vinyl artwork and satisfying intricacies present in many of his productions were indetectable amongst a bass-heavy mix and a frenzied pit of fist pumping partiers. Even Rivoire himself got into it towards the end, marshalling the crowd up and down with his fist while churning out a particularly slow, grimy remix of 11h30.

All of this aside, it was intensely satisfying to experience a talented international artist playing – and skilfully mixing – almost every one of his productions back to back. Remixes of Sebastian Tellier’s Divine and Boys Noize’s Oh! were undeniably built for the dance floor and made for a great encore.

It’s safe to say that those who came expecting a raucous, balls to the wall party got exactly what they wanted.