Rapture and The Presets at the Glass House

I was excited about this show for 2 reasons. I had seen The Presets at Spaceland a few months ago and they had everyone in Spaceland dancing like there was no tommorow. I was extremely impressed by their set and was stoked when I found that the Rapture had chosen The Presets to open their shows. The other reason was I can show up early to Analogue Haven and check out all the sweet synths that they have. I arrived fairly early to walk around and avoid traffic out to Pomona. The first item at Analogue Haven that caught my eye was the moog etherwave pro Theremin. At the small price of $1295.00 this amazing piece of machinery could be yours. Some other cool stuff they had was the new Korg Kaoss pad 3 and an Analogue Systems French Connection which is used by Alessandro Cortini of NIN and Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead. After prying myself from the Theremin, I got in line for the Rapture show. I got to hear the Presets do their sound check from outside which was cool. The doors opened at 7:30 with the Presets finally hitting the stage at 9:00. I secured a pretty good spot and was ready for the onslaught of the Presets. The Presets are a two man duo from Australia with a electronic dance synth vibe. I had read in Future magazine that both Julian and Kim have classical music training but opted for 4 on the floor dance beats and sugary synth dance tunes. One of the cool things the Presets did was use the intro segment from the Pet Shop Boys song "It's a Sin" before they went into the crushing groove of "Are You the One?". The band was quickly winning over fans with each song played. They left the stage with a huge roar of approval from the pomona kids. It will be interesting to see if they convert the L.A. crowd. I had already got my money's worth after seeing the Presets. The Rapture had a lot to live up to as far as I was concerned. They came on and played a 16 song set that delivered. Gabriel was killing it on the saxophone and added delay to it to give it a really funky texture. Vito also had a sweet setup with a Moog Little Phatty synth onstage as well as a Roland Juno. Some of the Rapture highlights included "Heaven", "Sister Saviour", "Get Myself Into It", and "Olio". I have adapted my concert schedule to fit in the San Diego show. Off to San Diego for the next show.