Live Review: Darwin Deez, Pluto Jonze

Making the most of their time down under, Darwin Deez took the stage at The Standard in an epic performance; their first of two Splendour sideshows.

Pluto Jonze took to the stage first, and interestingly supported himself with an old school computer named Sam. This indie/alternative trio – or quartet if you count Sam the computer – pumped up the crowd, with Jonze screaming, “I'm assuming there are thousands of you out there…”

With his '90s porn star moustache, trademark curly hair and headband and retro '80s hipster fashion sense, frontman Darwin Smith truly is the embodiment of a pop/rock star – funny, engaging, complex and entertaining, but most of all extremely talented, rocking the stage and playing a mix of songs from their latest album, Songs For Imaginative People, and some of their older hits.

The guys opened their set with some corny but hilarious Spice Girls-esque choreography, which filtered out through the rest of the show and showcased not only the talent that these guys have, but also their sense of humour, and the fact that they don't take themselves too seriously.

Other than their quirky choreography, a crowd favourite was their rendition of Alice, a song that Smith wrote about a girl he met and fell for three years ago when he was last in Australia for the Parklife Festival. Smith mentioned that he had kept in touch with Alice and would be seeing her in Melbourne for the first time in three years, and he hoped he wouldn't stuff up the song in front of her… He then went on to accidentally mix the verses up, leaving the crowd in hysterics.