Live Review: Hermitude, Haiku Hands

One of Australia's most exciting young groups, Haiku Hands, serve up an absolute treat as they take the stage for the first time tonight. Their punchy mix of styles proves to be the perfect warm-up, with gems like Dare You Not To Dance and Not About You putting a proverbial spring under the dancefloor. 

After a four-year gap between headline shows in Brisbane, Hermitude appear visibly pumped to be playing to a room of their own again, giving thanks from the get-go and shoutouts of appreciation to the newly initiated "little Gs" among the all-ages crowd. Gone are the days of regular Woodford visits, a pairing that brought an energy like no other, but gladly the impeccable design of Fortitude Music Hall provides the next best thing. And a vamped-up visual production certainly goes some way to sweetening the deal.

Hermitude @ Fortitude Music Hall. Photos by Terry Soo.

HyperParadise classics Get In My Life, Speak Of The Devil and Flume's remix of the title track really light up the room, as expected, but it's Haiku Hands' return to the stage for Pollyanarchy gem Let It Burn that delivers the most frantic bounce of this evening. A surprise highlight, the mix of Hermitude's beats with Haiku Hands' bold vocal style makes for the most wondrously frantic energy. 

The guests keep rollin' in; Hoodlem takes the stage for Every Day and Jaguar Jonze for the recent Like A Version cover of Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box, which doesn't really do the song a whole lot of justice but is still sure to be a crowd-pleaser any day of the week. Searchlight continues the flow before Hermitude change things up a little, strapping their synths on to come forward and get a bit more personal with the crowd, jamming out an infectious cover of Kanye's King Crimson-sampling hip hop opus, Power.

Hermitude @ Fortitude Music Hall. Photos by Terry Soo.

They conclude their set proper with The Buzz, but soon return for an encore that includes an unreleased composition, their remix of Odesza's Say My Name and another unreleased monster which could be described as some kind of rainbow glitch apocalypse. It's a well-rounded set, delivering all the peaks that we've come to expect from the Blue Mountains' best. Now here's hoping it's not such a long wait between rounds this time.