The Avalon was sold out for the co-headlining tour of The Presets and Dragonette. Along with electronic producers Classixx, it was a synthesizer fueled dance party. I had missed Dragonette on prior tours and was intrigued to catch them. The Presets have long been a favorite of mine dating back to when I saw them at Spaceland in 2006.
Classixx
Classixx also have come a long way since I saw them back in 2008 opening for Cut Copy at the Echoplex. Michael David and Tyler Blake have added more live instrumentation to their engaging live set instead of hunkering behind a laptop. While their list of remix credits are impressive, Classixx recently released their own full length debut album Hanging Gardens.
Dragonette
Billed as a co-headline tour, Dragonette are still on the road touring in support of their latest release Bodyparts. Their popularity has surged due to the ever present song "Hello" by Martin Solveig that features Martina Sorbara's vocals. Dragonette got the dance party whipped up into a frenzy early on as Sorbara danced around the stage like an energetic cheerleader while nailing her vocal parts.
It was impressive to see Joel Stouffer rock a Roland electronic drum kit while Dan Kurtz handled an accoutrement of synthesizers and some bass. The audience were throwing their hands up in the air as they danced frantically to "Pick Up The Phone". Other highlights include "Live In This City", "Run Run Run", "Untouchable" and "I Get Around". Dragonette are finishing up their run of US dates and will probably be back soon.
The Presets
The Presets have never let me down in the live department. I caught them earlier on this tour at Club Nokia and was excited to see them again. Julian Hamilton was stationed behind his Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 and Korg MS-20 keyboards while Kim Moyes manned his drum kit for some live drumming for most of the set.
Pacifica is their third album and "Push" kicked things off with its glittery chirping synthesizers and Moyes steady beat. Hamilton would occasionally pull away from his keyboard to get the audience stirred up. "Girl And The Sea" is still one of my favorite tracks from their debut album Beams and sounded pristine.
The Presets knew how to keep the audience grooving as they whipped through "Promises", "Ghosts", "This Boy's In Love" before dipping back into "I Go Hard I Go Home". Things really heated up when they played "Youth In Trouble" and closed out their main set with "My People". The encore featured a slamming "Are You The One?" and a closing salvo of "Talk Like That". It was a great synthesizer night.
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