Live review - Nevereverland, Melbourne

After a massively successful launch in 2007, Nevereverland returned. The Modular gods stopped the rain, got a hold of the biggest and most blogged about stars of electro, disco, indie and nu rave fame and put them all on the same stage.

Van She and Ladyhawke had the early sets, making way for Berlin bandits, The Whitest Boy Alive. To quote lyrics from said band, the crowd was caught in a motion and they didn’t want to stop. Front man Erlend Øye could even “feel the love from the audience” it was radiating that hard. Tracks like 'Golden Cage' and 'Burning' were musical treats, with them jumping around like only cute foreign boys can. Bonus points for making a keyboard into a keytar.

Hercules and Love Affair’s performance was impressive, but with 7 people on stage, a couple of brass instruments and a transvestite singer they would almost have to be. 'Blind' was especially excellent, not only did it sound good (a bonus at a music festival) but they looked good playing it. They declared Australia to be, “the most fun place to play” saying that, “Australia has really turned us out.” It may be subjective, but it’s nice to hear.

Cut Copy also played, you may have heard of them? Personally, I think they are Yawnsville: Population 4, but apparently I am the only one, because the crowd loved them crazy. Undoubtedly, their high hats and loud claps did have a lot of enthusiasm. However, my favourite part was when they tried to destroy the floor tom at the end of their set, but couldn’t. After picking it up, dropping it, then hitting it with a guitar, they resorted to just kicking the pedal and playing it. Rock star FAIL. NB: Never trust an indie boy with skinny jeans to break a drum.

The nu rave mavericks known as The Klaxons were next. They only had to utter “oohee oohee oohee oohee oooh, ahhhh” and everyone’s hands were in the air. Literally, every time they sung “ahhhh” a sea of hands shot up into the air, it was equal parts incredible and hilarious. I loved their set, but to be honest, this could have been a Klaxons cover band and half the Modular masses probably wouldn’t have even noticed.

Lastly were the beloved Presets - cue the lights and smoke machines. It was exactly one year on from their first ever, live debut of 'My People', (having since won Best Dance Release at the 2008 ARIA awards with their album, Apocalypso) and they were amazing. Even when you’ve seen then play almost a billion times, they are still so good live. Kim drums like Animal from the Muppets, and Julian takes to the stage like he’s just had 5 redbulls. It was not hard to tell that they are the cream of Pav’s crop and it seems to be a title that they deserve, just try not to dance to them. I was in a sling and I still wanted too.
 
So despite the beer running out halfway through (possible a ploy by the rum and cola conglomerates?), I think that Modular’s 10th birthday was a success. If nothing else, it certainly ticks a box as far as line-ups go, if you’re into that kinda thing.