Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Wednesday 30 November 2022
Words – James Murphy
Decked in red Moto GP leathers, Grammy-Award-winning, Future Bass pioneer Flume stood between a pair of sound desks on pedestals on the Adelaide Entertainment Centre stage with a bike wheel burning rubber on the giant screen behind him, as smoke plumed and the bass revved.
Alongside guest vocalist collaborators Kučka and Adelaide and Hobart only support act, Vera Blue, Flume delivered a modified version of his Palaces tour, racing through three albums worth of Triple J Hottest 100 hits, as well as selections from this year’s third album.
As a live spectacle, electronic artists are dependent upon guest vocalists, sets, lighting, audio-visuals and simply the sheer power of stadium sound systems. Flume, for his return to Australia, delivered the scale that only Australia’s greatest electronic artist export can provide, as he constructed a palace around his mixing desks, upon which visions of nature and psychedelic swirls were projected, as the wobbly bass rumbled through your bones.
The set opened with a ‘Holdin On’ and ‘Drop the Game’ medley, then ran through the hits ‘Never Be Like You’, with Vera Blue subbing in on vocals and ‘Say It’, as well as returning to earlier favourites like ‘Insane’, remixes like Lorde’s ‘Tennis Courts’ and DJ only versions of Palaces’ title track and ‘Say Nothing’.
While having the mercurial Vera Blue along for a support set that featured crowd pleasers ‘Lady Powers’ and ‘Regular Touch’, as well as on the encore of ‘Running Back’ was a great consolation. The Eastern States stretch of the tour featured collaborators Toro y Moi, May-A and Compton’s Channel Tres. Given that this tour was in support of the new album, it was a little disappointing that Adelaide fans were denied the full stage experience, such as May-A’s live vocals on ‘Say Nothing’ and ‘Sirens’ Caroline Polachek also pulled out from the tour before it began to focus on her new album.
Which is not to say that fans left disappointed. Enjoyed in isolation, the Palace’s tour was a reminder of the global influence and genius talent of a young Australian from Sydney’s North Shores that has honed his beat making since primary school and who know delivers across the globe. For fans of the latest release, though, the Adelaide show was not all that it could or should have been.
No Comments